The latest data from the major freight index shows that spot freight rates continue to decline. However, increased port congestion caused by strikes and other factors is slowing down the decline in freight rates.
The Drewry World Container Index (WCI) has declined for 21 consecutive weeks. The WCI composite index in the latest week dropped slightly by 0.7% from the previous week to $6998.8/FEU, a year-on-year decrease of 21%. The Baltic Freight Index (FBX) global composite index was US$6,414/FEU, down 1% from the previous week.
analysis said that strikes at German ports and congestion at other major container ports in Northern Europe are slowing down the decline in spot freight rates. According to the latest data from WCI, FBX and XSI spot freight indices, the spot freight rates on the Asia-Europe route have fluctuated slightly . WCI index shows that the freight rate from Shanghai to Rotterdam is 9182 US dollars/FEU, down 1% from the previous week; the FBX index Asia to Northern Europe freight rate is 10,393 US dollars/FEU, a slight decrease of 0.7%.
Although shipping companies have canceled some sailings, they have to start touting discounted prices in the market to attract bookings. The Ningbo Shipping Exchange reported that there was insufficient demand for European routes, there was an overall excess capacity, and market freight rates continued to fall.
However, congestion at Nordic ports is consuming a lot of capacity as ships wait longer for berths and berth at slower speeds, which could tip the supply-demand balance in favor of shipping companies in the coming weeks.
Last Thursday, 12,000 dock workers at the German ports of Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven went on a 48-hour strike. Port operations were suspended, exacerbating the already long-standing congestion at Nordic container ports. Before the strike, there were reports of ships having to wait up to two weeks in the port of Hamburg to berth.
In addition, On the trans-Pacific route, Ningbo Shipping Exchange reported that the overall supply of North American routes is oversupply, and booking prices in the spot market continue to fall. The latest data from the WCI index shows that the spot freight rate from Shanghai to Los Angeles is US$7,480/FEU, down 1% from the previous week and down 23% year-on-year; the spot freight rate from Shanghai to New York is US$10,164/FEU, which remains basically unchanged. .
According to FBX data, the spot freight rate from Asia to the United States fell by 2% from the previous week to US$7,234/FEU. The Asia-US East spot freight rate was US$8,233/FEU, up 1% from the previous week. According to analysis, this increase is partly due to the intensified congestion in the East US port. In July, the backlog of ships in the New York-New Jersey Port increased, and the waiting time for berthing exceeded 20 days. The waiting time at the Port of Savannah has also increased to 10 to 20 days.
One reason for the disconnect between weak demand in Europe and the United States and continued congestion at ports is high inventories while off-dock storage space has been exhausted. Judah Levine, director of research at
Freightos, said: "With shelves and warehouses full, the current drop in demand is likely to exacerbate congestion, as imported goods with nowhere to go sit in port container yards or rail hubs for long periods of time." This will take some time to ease. . "The process of easing and declining is likely to be slow for both congestion and freight rates."
According to the latest sailing cancellation tracking report released by Drewry, between weeks 29 and 33, transpacific, transatlantic, Asia to northern Europe There are a total of 758 scheduled voyages on major routes such as the Mediterranean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, of which 176 voyages have been canceled, and 71% of the canceled voyages will appear on the eastbound trans-Pacific route, mainly to the west coast of the United States.
Among them, the three major shipping alliances canceled a total of 61 voyages. The 2M alliance canceled 20 voyages, THE alliance canceled 23.5 voyages, and ocean alliance canceled 17.5 voyages.
The following is a summary of sailings and port jumps from China to North America, Europe and the Mediterranean from the 29th to the 34th week that are easy to calculate (swipe up and down to view, you can click to enlarge):
East China
Shanghai
Ningbo
9
South China
Pearl River Delta
Shenzhen Yantian
Shenzhen Shekou
Guangzhou Nansha
Hong Kong
1Taipei
*The above data comes from the official account Easy Shipping Schedule
