Container freight rates for Asia-US West Coast routes spike before Lunar New Year

Container spot rates from Asia to the US West Coast spiked sharply last week, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday on February 1.

Container shipping rates skyrocketed

Drewry's WCI container freight rate index on the US West Coast rose 5% to $11,197 per 40ft container, while the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), which includes a "premium" guarantee surcharge element, rose 3.5%, to $15,139 per 40ft container.

For the US East Coast, there was mixed news from the spot indexes, with the WCI index up 2% for the week to $13,987 per 40ft, as opposed to the FBX index down 2.5% to 17,023 USD.

In a customer statement, Maersk said there may be enough staff to keep operations running during the Lunar New Year holiday and therefore will not reduce service immediately after the Lunar New Year.

“Instead, we will maintain our routine activity levels during the slow period following the holiday to address some of the most notable schedule reliability issues,” said Maersk.

Elsewhere, spot rates from Asia to Northern Europe were mostly flat last week, according to WCI and FBX, at $14,053 and $14,458 per 40ft, respectively, despite Xeneta's XSI index showing a 4% drop on the Nordic route to $14,525.

The decision of Maersk and several other shipping lines has restricted small and medium-sized shippers from entering into long-term contract agreements, leading other shipping lines to raise short-term rates for the area.

"They know we don’t have many other options and are taking advantage," a UK-based forwarder told The Loadstar last week.

Several forwarders and NVOCCs have contacted The Loadstar to express concern and "disgust" about the carriers' tactics.

According to Loadstar's contacts, it seems that some shipping lines are contacting the customers of the forwarders directly, offering cheaper rates than they have given to the forwarder in the past, to secure their business and cut out middlemen.

However, when things don't go as planned and goods are delayed, shippers are left with no alternative and are subject to either increased freight rates from other parties or insurance charges.

“Quite frankly, I’m disgusted at the underhand tactics from lines that we have worked with for 10 years or more,” said the executive director of an NVOCC.

Rates for exports from Asia remain high on most shipping routes. The Ningbo Container Freight Index (NCFI) recorded an upward trend in 9 of the 21 covered routes, and a slight decline in the remaining 12, suggesting that any shippers' hopes for price adjustment is still far from happening.

Even on secondary routes, such as in the Northwest Atlantic, rates from Northern Europe to the US East Coast show no sign of falling back to a year ago levels.

To see the spike in the North Atlantic region, in the same week and last year, spot rates from Liverpool to New York, at around $1,800 per 40ft container - now average spot rates should be pay is about 6,900 USD.

Read more: