OCEAN FREIGHT RATES CONTINUE TO RISE
The Loadstar reported today that since the implementation of a series of peak season surcharges (PSS) and new FAK (freight all kinds) levels on 1st of July, the largest East-West container trades have seen a week of double-digit spot freight rate increases: Drewry’s World Container Index for the Shanghai-Rotterdam leg grew by 10% to reach $8,056 per 40ft container, with the Xeneta Shipping Index for the Far East-North Europe leg growing a similar amount, recording a rate of $7,897 per 40ft container.
However, forwarders and shippers are paying significantly more than the quoted indexed rates to secure space in an increasingly strong demand environment. This trend is affecting major ocean carriers with substantial contracted volumes, particularly in the Asia-Europe trade routes. Some European freight forwarders reported that major shippers were being forced to pay space guarantee surcharges on at least a part of their volumes, resulting in spot rates above $10,000 on the Asia-North Europe route for some customers. It is expected that freight rates will remain elevated until at least the Golden week – 1st week of October – and could even persist until the second quarter of next year.
Global schedule reliability measured by Sea Intelligence has seen a slight increase in May 2024 (55.8%) but remains well below last year figures (66.8%). Despite the improvement in schedule reliability, the average delay for late vessel arrivals deteriorated, increasing by 0.34 days month-on-month to 5.10 days. This figure is now inching closer to the pandemic highs than the pre-pandemic lows. On a year-on-year level, the May 2024 figure was 0.73 days higher.
Source: The Loadstar, Sea Intelligence