News / Spot rate decline slows, but prices for some long-term ocean contracts soar

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Spot container freight rates on the main east-west trades continued to fall this week, although the trajectory of the decline has begun to flatten, with the drops all in single digits.

The largest decline was seen on the Asia-North Europe trade: yesterday’s weekly World Container Index from Drewry saw its Shanghai-Rotterdam leg slump 9% week on week, to $4,682 per 40ft, although it still remains nearly 300% up on the same point last year, when rates were in freefall and carriers ...