News / Carriers look for trade mix to stay in the black

© Serge Bogomyako |

Ocean carriers with the greatest exposure to the embattled east – west trades recorded the steepest fall in their average freight rates in the first quarter and are struggling to breakeven in the soft market environment.

According to an Alphaliner analysis, Hapag-Lloyd tops the table so far, of carriers that publish their results in detail, with an average rate for the 2.84m teu that it transported in Q1 of $1,999 per teu.

This represents a 27.9% decline in the German carrier’s average ...