Two of the primary indices for measuring spot rates in container shipping slipped last week compared with the previous week, but one also showed a significant year-over-year decline, while the other relatively steady compared with the same period a year ago.
The Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s composite Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, which aggregates spot rates on 13 different outbound trades from Shanghai, fell 3.4 percent on a sequential basis, and the World Container Index, produced by London-based maritime shipping consultant Drewry, slipped 1.6 percent.
The SCFI’s Friday reading of 777.7 also was down 6 percent from 827.27 as of June 23, 2017.
The WCI, on the other hand, was relatively unchanged from the same 2017 period at $1,352 per FEU.
According to the SCFI, rates from Shanghai to Europe fell 3.4 percent last week, from $862 per TEU to $834 per TEU, while rates from Shanghai to the Mediterranean declined 1.1 percent, from $915 per TEU to $905 per TEU.
Transpacific rates were also down from the previous week, with pricing from Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast dropping 5.7 percent, from $1,266 per FEU to $1,194 per FEU, and rates to the U.S. East Coast falling 2.5 percent, from $2,236 per FEU to $2,181 per FEU.
According to Drewry, pricing from Shanghai to Rotterdam slipped 1 percent sequentially and 3 percent year-over-year to $1,601 per FEU. At $1,729 per FEU, rates to Genoa were steady from the week before, but up 4 percent from the previous year.
Eastbound transpacific rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles and New York fell 3 percent each from the previous week to $1,282 per FEU and $2,352 per FEU, respectively, but were up 10 percent and 14 percent year-over-year.
Transatlantic pricing also remained in positive territory, stagnating from the previous week but rising 6 percent from this time last year to $1,837 per FEU.
In its weekly analysis, Drewry noted that the average composite WCI so far this year now stands at $1,371 per FEU, down 10.6 percent from the index’s five-year average of $1,534 per FEU.
Drewry said it expected rates to “remain stable” again next week, which would be welcome news for container carriers, many of which have already reported less-than-inspiring results for the first quarter of 2018 after returning to profitability last year.
The research firm in a recent report projected the container carrier industry “will only break even at best in 2018,” as stagnant rates, rising fuel prices and an inability to control costs are putting pressure on profit margins.