News
The composite China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) stood at 1,110 points in Week 5, which declined 4.4% from the Week 3 due to weaker demand after Lunar New Year, the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) announced last Friday. The composite Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) came very close to falling below the 1,000-point line at 1,006.89 points, which shrank 7.2%.
On individual trade lanes, the CCFIs closed at 1,465.34 points on that to Europe, down 2.5%; 1,974.65 points on that to the Mediterranean, down 5.5%; 818.48 points on that to the west coast of North America, down 2.9%; and 1,199 points on that to the east coast of North America, down 3.3%.
The CCFIs were sluggish across the board on north-south routes, decreasing 5.1% to 1,025.98 points for exports to the Middle East Gulf and the Red Sea; 6% to 1,057.96 points for those to Australia and New Zealand, 5.8% to 1,510.89 points for those to southern Africa; and 9.4% to 628.81 points for those to eastern and western Africa.
In intra-Asia waters, the CCFIs waned 8.3% to 984.24 points on the trade to Japan, 3.8% to 654.94 points on that to Southeast Asia and 5.6% to 910.36 points on that to South Korea.
The CCFI, an indicator for freight rates for containerized shipments from China moved on medium- and long-term contracts, was set at 1,000 points on Jan. 1, 1998, while the SCFI is an indicator for spot rates for container exports from Shanghai that do not include terminal handling charges (THCs) and was set at the same value on Oct. 16, 2009.
