Spot rates from Shanghai to Northern Europe stood at $1,106 per 20-foot container this week.The SCFI, which prices for the week ahead, showed spot rates from Shanghai to Northern Europe stood at $1,106 per 20-foot container. The 1.3 percent week-over-week loss totaled about $14 per TEU, in the second straight week of losses in lanes to Europe.
“It’s always a bit of a surprise when the rates go down, even though there’s been some [general rate increases] in the lane,” Jean Marie Lamay, head of commodity and freight solutions at HSH Nordbank, said. “In the coming weeks we may see something, but not much.”
Spot rates to the Mediterranean were down 1.8 percent to $1,567 per TEU.Lamay said that some liners posted GRIs for July. Lamay said some of those carriers — the July 1 group included Maersk, MSC, OOCL, Hanjin, APL, NYK Line, Zim, Hyundai Merchant Marine, K Line and Evergreen — postponed the GRIs to July 15. Others are already offering spot rates with a $300-per-TEU GRI, nearly half of of the GRI average of $610 per TEU.
The spot rates to Northern Europe have dropped 37.3 percent, or $659 per TEU, since Jan. 1.
Spot rates to the Mediterranean were down 1.8 percent to $1,567 per TEU. The rate is still 13.1 percent higher year-over-year.
Trans-Pacific spot rates to the U.S. West Coast were up 2.8 percent to $1,769 per 40-foot container.Rates to U.S. up following weeks of declines
Trans-Pacific spot rates to the U.S. West Coast were up on the SCFI this week, rising 2.8 percent to $1,769 per 40-foot container. This follows five straight weeks of steady declines that totaled $267 per FEU.
The rate is still 16.3 percent lower year-over-year. There have been no year-over-year gains on the SCFI in over a year.
The Drewry benchmark rate from Hong Kong to Los Angeles held steady at $1,650 per FEU this week, at a two-year low. Drewry said it believed that cargo diversions due to ongoing labor negotiations on U.S. West Coast ports were holding rates back from any gains.
Spot rates to the U.S. East Coast rose 2.4 percent week-over-week to $3,291 per FEU.Members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement pushed back a peak-season surcharge of $400-per-FEU in favor of a two-phase PSS in early and mid-July, noting the expiration of certain market rates on June 30.
SCFI spot rates to the U.S. East Coast also showed life, rising 2.4 percent week-over-week to $3,291 per FEU. Although rates to the East Coast had been decreasing slowly for the past five weeks, they were still showing year-over-year gains. The rate this week, however, was 2.1 percent lower than the same week of 2013.
Spot rates to the U.S. West Coast on the SCFI have dropped 2.5 percent, or $46 per FEU, since Jan. 1. Rates to the East Coast have gone up, gaining 4.9 percent or $154 per FEU since the first of the year.
