Asia-Europe rates fell by more than 10% in the last seven days to put a large dent in carrier’s general rate increases for November.
Prices between the continents ports slipped $137, or 10.4%, to $1,175 per teu, according to the latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index, meaning that the previous week’s GRI has already been eroded by as much as 22%. Asia-Mediterranean rates also slipped by $111, or 7.8%, to $1,305 per teu.
Asia-Europe rates fell by more than 10% in the last seven days to put a large dent in carrier’s general rate increases for November.
Prices between the continents ports slipped $137, or 10.4%, to $1,175 per teu, according to the latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index, meaning that the previous week’s GRI has already been eroded by as much as 22%. Asia-Mediterranean rates also slipped by $111, or 7.8%, to $1,305 per teu.
Regular Containers Freight Weekly commentator Richard Ward, a broker at Freight Investor Services, said that reports continue to suggest that the SCFI will report similar declines in the coming weeks.
“Rates could easily be back below the psychological $1,000 mark by December,” he said.
“If expectations are correct that there is no doubt carriers will push hard to increase rates prior to annual rate negotiations for 2015.”
With a new contract for dockworkers on the US west coast and port congestion issues still to be resolved, rates on the Asia-US west coast trade also dropped this week. The SCFI shows that prices fell $61, or 3.1%, to $1,927 per feu, however despite the declines they remain some 12% higher than this time last year.
On Asia-US east coast routes, the pattern continued with prices falling $107, or 2.6%, to $3,941 per feu. However, this is as much as 28% higher than the $3,078 per feu recorded in the first week of November 2013.
Last week’s SCFI Comprehensive Index fell by 49.54 points, or 4.5%, to 1062.46 points.
Following the previous week’s November GRIs, the latest World Container Index shows that rates in the headhaul direction from Shanghai to Rotterdam jumped a full $1,212 per feu to $2,569 per feu.
Prices for the return journey followed suit climbing $71 to $830 per teu.
Meanwhile, freight rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles fell $30 to $2,012 per feu, yet rose in the opposite direction by 54 to $660 per feu.
Finally, last week’s Hong Kong-Los Angeles container freight rate benchmark, published by Drewry, dropped $100, or 5%, this week to $1,875 per feu. Drewry though expects this figure to rise in the next few weeks in respect of the mid-November GRIs announced by members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement.
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