News / Container lines announce new price hikes as ocean rates continue to slide

© Mohamed El Khamisy

Container freight rates on the main east-west shipping trades fell further this week as carriers continued to lose the gains of the most recent price rises.

The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) saw declines on the North Europe, Mediterranean, US west coast and US east coast legs as carriers began to notify shippers and forwarders of new general rate increases (GRIs) on August 1.

The Shanghai-North Europe SCFI rate dropped 8.1% to $713 per teu this week, seemingly in defiance of high vessel utilisation ...