Shipping: "Container Spot Rates Decline Sharply"

From The Loadstar via gCaptain:

Both of the major east-west tradelanes recorded significant falls on today’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), reflecting an increasingly soft demand environment.

The Asia-Europe components of the SCFI saw container spot rates for North Europe decline 8.3% to $831 per teu, and rates for Mediterranean ports lose 6.8% to $857 per teu.

Despite ocean carriers cancelling 13 Asia-North Europe sailings to mitigate the impact of post-Chinese New Year weak demand, the lines have still been unable to fill their ships and, as a consequence, spot rates are starting to tumble.

One forwarder source told The Loadstar this week he had been offered $300 off of his current 40ft rate for the next two weeks.

According to Alphaliner data, the 2M alliance has blanked the most westbound voyages, six, including its decision this week to cancel the AE2/Swan loop from its 2 March slot.
The Ocean and THE alliances have so far each withdrawn three sailings from the route, while one voyage of the standalone HMM services has also been pulled.

“Any further deterioration in spot rates could trigger further capacity withdrawals,” said Alphaliner....

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