News / Spot rates tread water – some calm before the 'USEC storm'

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As the shipping world prepares for what could be a tumultuous period on the US east and Gulf coast from next week, there was little change this week in spot container freight pricing trends that have been place for the past month.

Spot container freight markets this week have been relatively subdued, determined by two factors: the continued slack demand across Europe following the end of its peak season; and North American supply chains waiting to see which way the ILA-USMX negotiations are going.

The Shanghai-North Europe leg of Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI) saw another consecutive week of double-digiti declines, dropping 11%, to end the week on $4,157 per 40ft, which puts it around the same point as the mid-January rate recovery – when spot rates saw a Red Sea-crisis induced mini peak.

They subsequently declined through February, March and April, before what we now understand was an early peak season began in earnest at the beginning of May.

Similarly, Xeneta’s XSI Asia-Europe trade was also down 11%, to $4,812 per 40ft.

This week’s spot rate on the WCI’s Shanghai-Genoa saw an even steeper drop, down 15% from the week before, to finish at $4,212 per 40ft.

Meanwhile, rates from Asia to North America were essentially flat – the WCI’s Shanghai-Los Angeles leg dropped 2%, to end the week on $5,490 per 40ft, while the XSI transpacific route had a decline of 1.5%, to $6,040 per 40ft.

The WCI’s Shanghai-New York route dropped 5% ,to $6,028 per 40ft, although not too much should be read into that as the window for front-loading US east coast imports to beat a possible ILA shutdown has long passed.

Drewry said it expected a continued decline in rates for Asia-to-Europe routes, due to weaker demand.

But it noted: “Meanwhile, rates for transatlantic and transpacific head haul trade routes are expected to rise, driven by potential labour strikes and the impact of China’s [October] Golden Week holiday.”

The WCI and the XSI both saw westbound transatlantic spot rates climb 1%, to $2,067 and $2,350 per 40ft, respectively.