News
The composite Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) went down 1.5% from the previous week to 4,746.9 points in Week 9, remaining on a downward trend for the seventh week in a row, the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) has unveiled.
As for spot container rates on the trans-Pacific route, those for containers from Shanghai to the U.S. East Coast fell 1.7% to $10,678 per FEU, staying on the decline for three consecutive weeks. In contrast, those for containers to the West Coast were bullish, rising 0.9% to $8,110 FEU. Gateway ports on the West Coast have been congested for a long time now, making more and more shipments bound for the East Coast. Traffic jams have, as such, reached the ports of New York and Charleston, where improvements in short periods of time are not expected.
Spot rates for containers to Europe declined 1.8% to $7,387 per TEU, falling for six weeks running. Those for containers to the Mediterranean, meanwhile, decreased 1.2% to $7,254 per TEU. To cope with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, major shipping companies have temporarily stopped accepting bookings for containers bound for Russia. Shipments that have already left ports of origin are now being transported to alternative destinations, while a growing number of containers are being forced to wait offshore at transshipment hubs. It is anticipated that such situations will lead to causing congestion.
