Peak season sees freight rates more buoyant and carriers bullish on price hikes
Container freight rates on the major east-west deepsea trades are beginning to lift as the peak season begins and price hikes scheduled for next week make their presence felt in the market.
Today’s Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI), a basket of rates quoted for the forthcoming week, saw its composite rate today up 8.8% week on week, with increases seen on almost every trade it tracks.
The rate on the Shanghai-North Europe grew 7.3% this week to finish at $926 per teu, compared with $863 per teu last week, as the trade edges towards the psychologically key $1,000 per teu point.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai-Mediterranean component showed the weakest growth, 2.8%, to finish the week at $893 per teu.
The transpacific trades to both the east and west coasts of North America saw a continuation of several weeks of strong price growth: into the US west coast up 16.4% to $1,877 per feu; and the Shanghai-US east coast trade up 7.4% to $2,846 per feu....MORE
