container shipping freight rates have fallen for 18 consecutive weeks, but with the continuous efforts of shipping companies to reduce shifts, the decline in US line has converged.
According to data released by the Shanghai Aviation Exchange on October 21, the latest Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) fell 35.31 points to 1778.69 points, a drop of 1.95%. The freight rates of the four major routes in Europe and the United States are still sluggish, but the decline of the US line has shrunk to about 3%.
Among them, the freight rate of Far East -US Western Front fell by $68 to US$2029, a drop of 3.24%, facing a war of defense of US$2,000; the freight rate of Far East-US Eastern Front fell by $177 to US$5,639, a drop of 3.04%; the freight rate of Far East-European Line fell by $202 to US$2,379, a drop of 6.52%; the freight rate of Far East-Mediterranean Line fell by $179 to US$2,568, a drop of 3.52%.
Industry insiders pointed out that due to the impact of interest rate hike inflation, consumer demand in Europe and the United States continues to tighten, and Europe has more impact on the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the decline is deeper than the US line. Overall, the SCFI index fell more than 65% from its high at the beginning of the year, with freight rates on the US and Western Front falling by 75%, freight rates on the European Front falling by nearly 70%, and freight rates on the US and Eastern Front falling by 53%.
However, the decline in the US and Western Front has narrowed recently, because many non-three major alliance members or shipping companies that adopt boat charter have launched the market, while alliance members have previously canceled overtime ships and have continued to adopt methods such as reducing shifts and merging shifts to actively reduce supply, which has led to a gradual decrease in freight rates.
On the other hand, the freight rate of near-ocean lines has been the first to stabilize in the past two weeks. Last week, the Persian Gulf line rose 24% to US$1,451, the Singapore waypoint of the Far East-Southeast Asia line rose 3 US$352; the Far East-Southeast Asia line rose 1 US$2 to US$255; the Far East-South Korea freight rate rose 2 US$323 per TEU, and the Far East-Japan Kanto fell 4 US$298 per TEU.
It is worth mentioning that although freight rates have fallen, the container ship accurate shift rate remains at a low level. Industry insiders pointed out that at present, the quasi-duty rates at most major ports are only about 30%, and it is still a distance away from the best quasi-duty rate of 70-80%, mainly due to the insufficient manpower of each port. Therefore, even if the cargo volume decreases, the quasi-duty rate rebounds are still slow.
Industry insiders said that the freight rate of the freight rate is determined by market supply and demand. The problem facing the freight industry at present is that the demand side of Europe and the United States is affected by interest rate hike inflation, but the continuous delivery and operation of new ships increases capacity supply. Some freight companies are unwilling to sacrifice loading rates to kill prices and grab goods, which is the key to lowering freight rates. The industry estimates that as manufacturers' inventory continues to digest, China's shipments are slowly increasing. We expect that there will be two waves of shipments to Europe and the United States at the end of the year and before the Spring Festival, which will have the opportunity to cause the deep-sinking freight rates to reach a turning point, and may even be expected to recover.
