Shippers turning to futures and longer-term contracts to manage risks

Daily turnover of Asia-North Europe (EC) container freight futures traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange has reached US$1.5 billion.

Speakers at the “Navigating the Volatility of Container Freight Rates” conference in Singapore today (24 March), said that years ago, interest in such futures wasn’t high, but disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the blockage of the Suez Canal with Ever Given in March 2021, the Red Sea crisis and geopolitical tensions, have made it necessary to hedge risks.