News
China's export trades were in general in the doldrums last week. On April 26, the China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) issued by Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE), the representation of the whole market, marked at 1095.30 points, down 0.2％ from the previous week, while the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), the mirror of the spot market, marked at 1049.02 points, down 3.4% week on week.
In Europe, shipping lines are striving to increase rates and limiting capacity, but the result was not as ideal as expected. Freight rate in the trade from Shanghai to Europe fell to the level of $800 per TEU and to $700 per TEU at the lowest. On the Mediterranean trade, market rates hovered at the level of $850-900 per TEU on the East Mediterranean and at around $850 per TEU on the West Mediterranean.
On the North America trade, the freight rate (covering seaborne surcharges) from Shanghai to U.S. West Coast ports was quoted at $2,102 per FEU and to U.S. East Coast ports at $3,251 per FEU on April 26, down 3.2% and 1.3% from the previous week, respectively.
On the Japan trade, volumes fell slightly from the prior week. The average slot utilization rate was kept at around 75% and the CCFI from Shanghai to Japan stood at 735.58 as compared with 733.87 in the previous week.
