23.04.17WCI Remains Stable in Week 15

Drewry Maritime Research's composite World Container Index (WCI) remained stable at $1,708.63 per FEU in Week 15, which decreased a minute 0.1% from the previous week and has dropped 78% when compared with the same week of last year. It was 84% below the peak of $10,377 per FEU reached in September 2021. The index was 36% lower than the 10-year average of $2,688 per FEU, indicating a return to more normal prices, but remained 20% higher than the pre-pandemic average of $1,420 per FEU in 2019.The year-to-date average was $1,908 per FEU, $780 lower than the abovementioned 10-year average.

Freight rates from Rotterdam to Shanghai fell 5% to $642 per FEU. Rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles and from New York to Rotterdam both slid 4% to settle at $1,674 per FEU and $1,025 per FEU, respectively. In contrast, rates from Shanghai to Rotterdam increased 4% to $1,598 per FEU. Similarly, rates from Shanghai to New York inched up 2% to $2,552 per FEU. Rates from Shanghai to Genoa, from Los Angeles to Shanghai and from Rotterdam to New York all hovered around the previous week's levels. Drewry expects east-west spot rates on routes other than the trans-Atlantic to plateau in the next few weeks.