News / Breathing space for shippers in a flat week for spot rates

Photo 146413051 © Tonyv3112 - Dreamstime.com

Spot freight rate levels on the major east-west container trades this week remained flat, as the third-quarter peak season swung into gear.

It is now less than three months until China’s Golden Week holiday, on 1 October, that will see the country’s factories shut for seven days – and, given the extended voyage times on many trades, it is likely to act as an informal deadline for the end of the peak season for some shippers.

However, shippers have at last had a few days’ breathing space after months of escalating prices, with few new peak season surcharges and FAK general rate increases applied over the past week, and spot pricing followed a trend we have noticed since May – double-digit week-on-week price increases normally take place in the first and third weeks of each month, after carriers apply new rate levels, while in the second and fourth weeks, pricing tends to remain flat.

It proved the case again this week – Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI) Shanghai-Rotterdam this week was flat, at $8,048 per 40ft, while Xeneta’s XSI short-term index saw the route grow 2%, to also finish on $8,047 per 40ft.

On the Mediterranean, the WCI’s Shanghai-Genoa leg grew 1%, to finish at $7,614 per 40ft, confirming another recent trend – that pricing from Asia to North Europe has now outpaced that to the Mediterranean, which prior to the most recent quarter, and the Red Sea crisis, was normally the more expensive of the two trades.

It was similar picture on the Asia-North America trades. The WCI’s Shanghai-Los Angeles leg saw week-on-week growth of just 1%, to hit $7,512 per 40ft, while the XSI transpacific route grew 3%, to finish at $,902 per 40ft. The WCI’s Shanghai-New York leg grew 3%, to end at $9,387 per 40ft.

This week’s price flatlining, however, probably doesn’t signal declines on the horizon, warned Drewry.

“Drewry expects freight rates to remain high until the end of the peak season,” said the consultant.

There was also no change on the transatlantic, where rates have been flat for weeks. The XSI transatlantic route saw a 0.5% gain, to $1,799 per 40ft, while the WCI’s Rotterdam-New York leg fell 1%, to $1,955 per 40ft.