Container rates up heading into Christmas holidays

Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI) increased eight per cent to US$3,803 per 40-ft container for the week of Dec. 16-20.

The WCI composite index is 63 per cent below the previous pandemic peak of US$10,377 in September 2021, but 168 per cent more than the average US$1,420 in 2019.

The average year-to-date composite index is US$3,946 per feu, which is US$1,084 higher than the 10-year average of US$2,862, which is inflated by the COVID-19 period.

Freight rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles jumped 26 per cent or US$917 to US$4,499 per feu and those from Shanghai to New York increased 17 per cent to US$6,074. Likewise, rates from Rotterdam to New York inched up three per cent to US$2,713 per feu.

Rates from Shanghai to Genoa and Rotterdam to Shanghai decreased two per cent to US$5,424 and US$508 per feu, respectively, and those from New York to Rotterdam and Shanghai to Rotterdam shrank one per cent to US$824 and US$4,819 per feu. Rates from Los Angeles to Shanghai remained stable.

Drewry expects an increase in rates on the Transpacific trade in the coming week, driven by front-loading ahead of the looming ILA port strike in January 2025 and the anticipated tariff hikes under the incoming Trump Administration.