In the latest week, spot freight rates on major routes from Asia to North America , Europe and the Mediterranean continued to fall. Freight rates on the trans-Pacific route have dropped by more than 50% from last year's peak. Other analysts predict that the container market will "lose momentum" in the third quarter.
According to the latest data from Drewry's World Container Index (WCI), the comprehensive freight rate fell 2.6% week-on-week to US$6,820/FEU, falling for 22 consecutive weeks. The latest comprehensive freight rate data of the Baltic Freight Index (FBX) is US$6,319/FEU, a weekly decrease of 1%. The Ningbo Export Container Freight Index (NCFI) released by the Ningbo Shipping Exchange fell by 3.4% from the previous week. html The freight index of 19 of the 121 routes fell .
Among them, Asia-Europe route , the latest data of Drewry WCI index is 9092 US dollars/FEU, a weekly decrease of 1%; the spot freight rate of FBX index from Asia to Northern Europe fell 2% to 10,219 US dollars/FEU; Ningbo Shipping Exchange report It is said that the loading rate of Europe-European routes is still poor, most liner companies have reduced prices to attract cargo, and spot freight rates continue to decline.
For the Asia to Mediterranean route , the Drewry WCI index showed that the spot freight rate from Shanghai to Genoa fell by 5% to US$10,300/FEU; the FBX index fell by 2% to US$12,030/FEU.
In addition, trans-Pacific route , the spot freight rate has accelerated. The WCI index showed that Shanghai to Los Angeles and New York both fell by 3% to US$7,280/FEU and US$9,842/FEU; %, to US$6,957/FEU; from Asia to the East United States, it remained basically unchanged at US$10,000/FEU. The Ningbo Shipping Exchange reported that the overall cargo volume in the North American route market was still insufficient, and freight prices maintained a downward trend. Data from
digital freight forwarding platform Shifl shows that entering the third quarter of this year, container spot freight rates on trans-Pacific routes have dropped by more than 50% from the peak in September 2021, to levels not seen since the beginning of last year.
Shifl said that the reason for the sharp reversal in freight rates in the first half of this year was the sharp decline in demand caused by the tightening of global monetary policy, consumer spending shifting from goods to services, expansion of retail inventories in the United States and Europe, and declining production in China.
Due to reduced demand, in July this year, the spot freight rate for 40-foot container shipping from China to Los Angeles dropped 62% from September 2021 and 59% from January 2022; the freight rate from China to New York dropped 62% from last year It fell by 52% in September and 48% from January this year. Although the current freight rates are still far behind the pre-epidemic levels of US$1,350/FEU and US$2,850/FEU for the West and East US, this drop still gives shippers a sigh of relief.
Additionally, analysts at shipping consultancy Maritime Strategies International (MSI) said they expect the container market to "lose momentum" in the third quarter, with freight rates falling in the fourth quarter as supply chain disruptions ease and consumer demand cools. There will be a sharper decline in the quarter.
MSI said: "This downward trend will continue into 2023, when we expect market conditions to return closer to pre-epidemic levels. Macroeconomic uncertainty has weakened expectations for further growth in trade." And pointed out that since this year, Spot freight rates have been on a downward spiral since the start of the year and it sees no reason to reverse that trend.
"Although the container market is entering the peak season, it now appears that the downward pressure of the epidemic and the continued rise in global inflation have dealt a heavy blow to cargo space demand." MSI said. And cited evidence of "warehouse saturation" and "retail inventory overhang."
The latest data from the National Retail Federation (NFR) shows that container imports are expected to fall 6% in August compared with May . With demand declining and peak season orders significantly advanced, NRF expects container imports in September and October. The drop will be greater for . Despite some monthly cooling, current monthly peak season volumes will still be 13% to 15% higher than in 2019.
sohang.com
