Container rates now 69 per cent below 2021 peak

Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI) decreased four per cent to US$3,216 per 40-ft container for the week of Oct. 14-18, with rates now 69 per cent below the previous pandemic peak of US$10,377 in September 2021.

This week’s WCI composite index is, however, 126 per cent above the 2019 pre-pandemic average rate of US$1,420. The average composite index for the year-to-date is US$4,058 per 40-ft container, which is US$1,225 higher than the 10-year average rate of US$2,834, which was inflated by the 2020-22 COVID-19 period.

Freight rates from Shanghai to Genoa decreased nine per cent to US$3,438 per 40-ft container, while rates from Shanghai to Rotterdam dropped six per cent to US$3,373. Rates from Shanghai to New York fell three per cent to US$5,609 and those from Shanghai to Los Angeles declined two per cent to US$4,941 per 40-ft container.

Conversely, rates from Rotterdam to Shanghai increased one per cent to US$547 and rates from Los Angeles to Shanghai, New York to Rotterdam and Rotterdam to New York remained stable.

Drewry expects rates, with the exception of China, to continue with their marginal decline in the coming weeks.