News / Asia-North Europe carriers announce rate hikes ahead of peak season 

© Vladimir Serebryanskiy

Asia-North Europe ocean carriers are making a big push for peak season rate increases, targeting hikes of about $300 per 40ft from 1 July. 

CMA CGM, which slashed its rates this month, has announced that its FAK rate from Asia to North Europe would rise by $300, to $2,000 per 40ft from next month. 

But for west Mediterranean ports, CMA CGM is keeping its 40ft rate at $1,800. 

However, spot rates on both routes remain under pressure. This week’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) recorded a 3.9% decline for North Europe, to $716 per teu, while Mediterranean rates fell by a more modest 1.3%, to $731 per teu. 

According to online digital booking platform Freightos, “supply continues to outstrip demand”, suggesting that carriers could look to blank some more headhaul sailings in the coming weeks to try and tip the balance in their favour. 

Of concern for carriers is that, for both tradelanes, spot rates are some 20% lower than in the same week of last year, and they must gain rate traction soon or risk missing out on the most profitable season of the year. 

Supporting that push is a positive outlook for peak season bookings, according to carriers The Loadstar spoke to at Multimodal in Birmingham this week. One carrier source said forward bookings were “not too bad at all”, and said he expected ships to be full in the summer. 

Having lost a cumulative $500m or so in the first quarter, and with Q2 likely to have been even more challenging, carriers urgently need a good peak season that could extend to provide a platform for a strong second-half performance. 

Transpacific spot rates, as recorded by the SCFI, nudged down by 2.4% this week for both the US west and east coast ports. Asia to the US west coast rates stood at $1,382 per 40ft, and $2,404 per 40ft for east coast ports. 

Carriers on the route surprised the market this week with a fresh blanking programme for July, the traditional first month of the peak season. 

The Ocean Alliance said it would cancel three headhaul voyages, which OOCL attributed to “expected low seasonal demand”. 

However, in contradiction, APL today announced a transpacific peak season surcharge (PSS) of $1,000 per 40ft, effective 15 July. 

Meanwhile, transpacific carriers and shippers are looking to the forthcoming G20 summit in Osaka at the end of this month, when it is expected President Trump will decide whether to extend the scope of US tariffs on Chinese imports to encompass virtually all trade not previously the subject of 25% import duty. 

And, depending on the grace period on any new tariffs, shippers could look to front-load cargo to beat any duty start date – which, when this happened at the end of last year, proved very fruitful for the container lines.