News / No joy for carriers as spot rates look set to drop below pre-pandemic levels

Container spot rates on the Asia-Europe and transpacific tradelanes are on course to dip below pre-pandemic levels before the end of the year.

However, ocean carriers’ operating costs are significantly higher than they were in 2019, which could force more exposed lines back into the red in the first quarter of 2023.

According to Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Maritime, given the extremely weak demand, the sharp decline in spot rates was “inevitable”.

But he added that after rates had bottomed out, there ...