Drewry says freight rates for cargo moving in refrigerated containers have risen since the beginning of 2017.
The London consultant says in contrast to its global freight index for “dry” containers, which has fallen 14 percent between the first quarter of 2017 and the second quarter of this year, its global reefer container freight rate index has climbed 3 percent in the same period.
“Buoyant trade development and tight availability of container equipment in certain regions have enabled some strengthening in reefer container freight rates relative to dry freight pricing,” said Martin Dixon, head of research products at Drewry. “These dynamics are expected to further support reefer container freight pricing over the next few years.”
Drewry pointed to strong growth in the banana, meat and fish trades. “Global seaborne reefer trade continues to expand, posting a gain of over 5 percent in 2017 to 124 million tonnes, a big improvement on trend growth over the past 10 years of 3.6 percent a year.”
Dixon said a shift in how refrigerated cargo moves by sea supports freight rates. More cargo is moving in refrigerated containers as opposed to in conventional reefer ships. Drewry estimated that containerized reefer traffic expanded by 8 percent in 2017, outpacing the 5 percent growth in overall seaborne reefer trade.
That disparity in growth rates is expected to continue. Dixon predicted “the specialized sector’s share of total seaborne reefer trade is forecast to fall from 20 percent today to just 14 percent for 2022, with container lines picking up the slack.”