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After six weeks of successive container spot freight rate increases, the Asia-Europe trades turned the corner this week and declined slightly, as carriers’ offered marginally more capacity than in the week before.
This week’s World Container Index (WCI) from Drewry showed spot rates on both its Shanghai-Rotterdam and Shanghai-Genoa legs declining 1% on the week before, to end this week at $2,165 per 40ft and $2,300 per 40ft, respectively.
According to freight rate platform Xeneta, a small increase in capacity this week accompanied the marginal decline in rates – with offered space on Far East-North Europe increasing from 273,569 teu last week to 281,990 teu this week, while on the Far East-Mediterranean, it rose from 172,073 teu on 20 November to 174,977 teu today.
This indicated how finely balanced both trades have become in what is crucial period for both carriers and their customers – today’s spot rates continue to act as a guide in the annual contract negotiations now underway.
“Whether it is year-end market sentiment heading into tender season, or a semblance of underlying demand, it is a strong finish to the year for carriers and provides much-needed momentum for them heading into what will be an extremely challenging 2026,” noted Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sand.
Indeed, forwarders said capacity cuts this month had affected some loadings. One leading European freight forwarder explained to The Loadstar: “We have experienced issues with allocation being cut due to blank sailings and vessel sizes being reduced on some sailings.”
Meanwhile, several carriers have published new Asia-Europe FAK rates to be implemented on 1 December – MSC is aiming for $3,100 per 40ft to North Europe and $3,950 to west Mediterranean ports.
Today’s Shanghai Containerised Freight Index, which often acts as a forward curve for the following week’s WCI ,given that it records quoted rates, shows Asia-North Europe gaining 3% next week and Asia-Mediterranean up 8%, likely reflecting the hoped-for impact of the new FAK levels.
However, sources believe the FAK hikes are unlikely to stick. One forwarder said: “Rates for December so far have had small increases from the second half of November levels, but I expect these to drop back a bit.”
And Mr Sand added: “Carriers are working hard to manage capacity and they are having some success, when you consider average spot rates are up on all major front-hauls compared with the first half of October, despite considerable decreases on Far East to US trades in November.”
Source: Xeneta
On the transpacific trades, the week-on-week decreases were sharper, the WCI’s Shanghai-Los Angeles leg down 4%, to end at $2,089 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-New York leg lost 6%, to end at $2,735 per 40ft.
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, it was a quiet week for US importers, said freight forwarder Freight Right, which described both trades as approaching “rock bottom”.
It explained that several carriers offered price discounts during the early part of this week and “carriers issued back-to-back reductions Monday and Tuesday, marking five-to-six cuts in November alone”.
“Some carriers with traditionally lower pricing pushed offers down to $1,350 per 40ft, accelerating the downward trend.
“The market anticipated declines in late November, but not to this extreme, and not at month-end heading into December. Current levels are now near floor-pricing, leaving little room for further decline without carriers taking losses,” it added.
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