Spot rates for maritime container transport between Asia and Europe have recorded new declines over the past week, in a scenario where shipping companies are progressively increasing transits through the Suez Canal and recovering capacity on these routes. Drewry's World Container Index (WCI) has remained unchanged this week at $4,465 per 40-foot container.
The stability of the global indicator is due to the different behavior of the main East-West corridors. While freight rates between Asia and Europe have decreased, trans-Pacific routes have recorded increases that have offset those declines in the overall index.
In the corridor between Asia and the Mediterranean, spot rates from Shanghai to Genoa have decreased by 10% over the week, to $4,368 per 40-foot container. In the connection between Shanghai and Rotterdam, the decline has been 5%, with a rate of $4,092.
Drewry links this evolution to a lower demand for freight and the increase in available capacity. According to data from its Container Capacity Insight service, cancellations of scheduled departures on the routes between Asia and Europe will decrease from four this week to one next week, resulting in a higher capacity supply. The consulting firm expects that the rates for this corridor will register another slight decline next week.
The evolution coincides with the increase in transits of container ships through the Suez Canal. Drewry notes that shipping companies are progressively recovering this route and predicts that more capacity will return to the corridor as services abandon diversions by the Cape of Good Hope. Its Red Sea Diversion Tracker provides biweekly monitoring of transits through Suez compared to those made by the Cape route.
The situation is different in trans-Pacific trade. Spot rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles have increased by 5%, to $7,185 per 40-foot container, while freight rates between Shanghai and New York have risen by 3%, reaching $9,587. Six cancellations of departures have been announced for next week on these routes, double those planned for the current week. Drewry expects trans-Pacific rates to remain relatively stable.
Available capacity is also still affected by incidents at other points on the shipping network. Chinese ports are experiencing congestion problems following several typhoons, while the Panama Canal faces restrictions related to drought. At the beginning of September, the number of daily transits is limited to 34 and is expected to decrease to 32 by the end of the month, while capacity for neo-Panamax ships is restricted to nine daily reservations.
Drewry had already recorded a 1% drop in its World Container Index the previous week, down to $4,473 per 40-foot container, driven then by declines in both trans-Pacific routes and connections between Asia and Europe.