News
Freight rates for container exports from China decreased in Week 5 due to a decline in demand that has continued since before Lunar New Year despite the fact that shipping line worked hard to reduce capacity by suspending sailings. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Indexes (SCFIs), an indicator for container exports from the Chinese port that do not include terminal handling charges (THCs), were mostly sluggish, although there were improvements on the routes to the Middle East Gulf and South America. The composite index, which was set at 1,000 points on Oct. 16, 2009, fell 2.2% from Week 3 to 1,006.89 points.
Spot rates from Shanghai stood at $1,754 per FEU on the route to the west coast of North America, down 2.9%, and $2,706 per FEU on that to the east coast, down 2.8%. Freight rates for containers destined to Europe waned 5.2% to $961 per TEU, falling below the $1,000-per-TEU line for the first time since August 2020. Those for exports to the Mediterranean fell 3.4% to $1,754 per TEU.
On north-south trades, spot rates improved 0.4% to $1,040 per TEU for shipments to the Middle East Gulf and a notable 35.3% to $1,441 per TEU for those to South America. In contrast, rates were bearish on the route to Australia and New Zealand, which plunged 14.4% to $441 per TEU. Spot rates were sluggish for containers to Africa as well.
In Intra-Asia waters, spot rates went down 2.4% to $326 per TEU on the route to Japan’s Kansai region, 4.2% to $317 per TEU on that to Kanto, 2.6% to $150 per TEU on that to Southeast Asia and 5% to $226 per TEU on that to South Korea.
