Container rates skyrocket, jumping 41 per cent amid tariff pause

Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI) jumped a whopping 41 per cent to $3,527 per 40-ft container for the week of June 2-6, and is up 70 per cent in the last four weeks as President Donald Trump’s pause on import tariffs led to a resumption of U.S.-bound traffic after the initial collapse of transpacific volumes.

Freight rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles went up 57 per cent to $5,876 per 40-ft container in the past week and 117 per cent since May 8. Spot rates to New York have risen 39 per cent in the past week and 96 per cent in the past four weeks.

Rates from Shanghai to Rotterdam and Genoa have also risen in the past week, by 32 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively.

The latest sudden, short-term strengthening in supply-demand balance in global container shipping has reversed the trend of declining rates which had started in January.

However, Drewry said its container forecaster expects the supply-demand balance to weaken again in the second half, which will cause spot rates to decline again in the second half of this year. The volatility and timing of rate changes will depend on the outcome of legal challenges to Trump’s tariffs and on capacity changes related to the introduction of the U.S. penalties on Chinese ships, which are uncertain.