News
Thanks to a recovery in transport demand, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) for the week ended on June 12 rose 9.7% from the previous week to 1,015.33 points, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE).
Containerized shipments from Shanghai to Europe was on the recovery, but some carriers did not raise freight rates as much as it had first announced. As such, spot rates from Shanghai remained unchanged at $875 per TEU. Those to the Mediterranean, meanwhile, improved 2.5% to $954 per TEU.
On the route to the U.S., operators continued their blank-sailing actions, while container movement was recovering dramatically. To take advantage of a tight supply-demand balance, most shipping lines hiked freight rates notably. As a consequence, freight rates surged 18.9% to $3,255 per FEU to the east coast of North America and a more significant 29.2% to $2,755 per FEU to the west coast.
On the Middle East Gulf trade, transport demand was dull again after Ramadan, making spot rates plunge 13.4% to $470 per TEU. On the trade to Australia and New Zealand, in contrast, fares rose 1% to $1,008 per TEU due to slight rate hikes by some shipping companies. On the other hand, containers were moved to South America at a rate of $936 per TEU, which plummeted 18.4%, as transport demand went down due to an escalation in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demand for transporting containers to Japan was stable, helping freight rates to stay flat at $226 per TEU to Kansai and $238 per TEU to Kanto.
