Ocean freight rates now 54 per cent lower than pandemic peak

Drewry’s World Container Index took its steepest drop in several weeks, decreasing eight per cent to US$4,775 per 40-ft container for the week of Sept. 2-6.

The latest Drewry WCI composite index is 54 per cent below the previous pandemic peak of US$10,377 in September 2021, but it is 236 per cent more than the average 2019 rate of US$1,420.

The average composite index for the year-to-date is US$4,127 per 40-ft container, which is US$1,313 higher than the 10-year average rate of US$2,814, which was inflated by the exceptional 2020-22 COVID-19 period.

Freight rates from Shanghai to Rotterdam plunged 14 per cent to US$6,219 per 40-ft container. Rates from Shanghai to Genoa declined 12 per cent to US$5,842 per feu. Similarly, spot rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles slid three per cent to US$6,030 per 40-ft box, and rates from Shanghai to New York and Rotterdam to Shanghai decreased two per cent to US$8,451 and US$612 respectively. Likewise, spot rates from New York to Rotterdam dropped one per cent.

Conversely, rates from Rotterdam to New York increased 16 per cent to US$2,212 per 40-ft box, and spot rates from Los Angeles to Shanghai inched up one per cent to US$714.

Despite the looming threat of an International Longshoremen’s Association port strike, transpacific eastbound freight rates have seen a slight dip this week. Drewry expects Asia-Europe rates to decline in the upcoming weeks.