News
Freight rates for exporting containerized shipments from China continued to increase in some routes and decreased in others in the week of July 22, although they were stable in general. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) unveiled on July 26 by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) stood at 788.93 points, registering a minute decline of 0.2% from the previous week.
As the busy shipment season had set in on the trade to and from Europe, some carriers implemented rate hikes in early July, leading to a notably rising market. Spot rates from Shanghai, which do not include terminal handling charges (THCs), surged 12.2% from a week earlier to $754 per TEU. On the route to and from the Mediterranean, meanwhile, shipping lines continue to control tonnage supply to maintain stable freight rates. As such, freight rates picked up a slight 3.3% to $718 per TEU.
On the China-North America trade, freight rates have been stable since the beginning of the busy season. The average load factor of containerships departing Shanghai exceeded 95%, but strategies differed from one operator to another, causing freight rates continue to fall. Those to the east and west coasts of North America, therefore, went down 1.3% to $2,800 per FEU and 6.9% to $1,433 per FEU, respectively.
