News / Drop in box shipping contract rates points to 'a recession of seismic proportions'

Long-term container shipping contracts have registered their first pricing decline since last October, prompting fears that the industry is heading towards “a recession of seismic proportions”.

According to figures published today by Xeneta, its crowd-sourced freight rate benchmarking platform XSI Public Indices saw a 0.5% decline in long-term contracted rates this month, following “a sustained period of growth”.

Year on year, the XSI was up 5.8% on March 2019 and up 2.2% from the beginning of this year, but with coronavirus lockdowns ...