News / Storm clouds darken on Asia-Europe box trade as carriers struggle with rates

© Calvin Leake

The storm clouds on the major east-west container trades continued to darken this week as attempts to hike freight increases appeared to falter and fuel costs continued to rise.

On the key Asia to Europe tradelane, spot rates – which account for over 50% of the liftings and heavily influence contract rates – are some 16% below the level of a year ago, whereas bunker costs have leapt by around 50%.

The North Europe component of the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) slipped ...