SEAINTEL Maritime Analysis said it was unable to comprehensively forecast market strength on the Asia-Europe trade with capacity volumes wildly changing week to week but can say that such conditions will provide a negative impact on supply/demand balance.

During the review period of the forthcoming 12 weeks, seven services are expected to see capacity change by 3,000 TEU from week to week, while 22 services will likely see changes of more than 1,000 TEU, both up and down, on a weekly basis. Just one service is projected to deploy the same capacity week in and week out, reported American Shipper.

The up and down nature is equivalent to rapid phase-in/phase-out of two super-post-Panamax strings and is wide ranging enough to impact supply/demand balance in any given week, said the maritime analyst in its weekly Sunday Spotlight report.

"This in turn means that if capacity becomes tight one week it cannot be taken as a sign of a stronger overall market - and conversely it is not possible to conclude that one week of poor vessel utilisation is an indication of an overall weakening of the market," the report added.