Asia-Europe spot rates gain 10%

Container lines operating in the Asia-Europe trades have managed to increase rates further over the past week as the peak season begins.

Next time you are told that the shipping lines are trying to cut costs at the dock side and squeeze us a little more !!!! Quote some of this article back to them.

Although most pundits are predicting a fairly uneventful peak period because of the weak state of many European economies, ocean carriers are having some success in lifting rates from the rockbottom levels they touched a few weeks ago.

The Europe component of the latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index gained $141 per teu in the seven days to Friday, or just over 10%, with the all-in rate for cargo moving from Shanghai to ports in the Hamburg, Antwerp, Felixstowe, Le Havre range climbing to $1,501 per teu.

This compares with a low of just over $500 in late June before lines took concerted action to reverse the slide.

General rate increases at the beginning of July were followed by more price adjustments on 1 August.

Maersk Line, for example, said it would be recommending an 1 August general rate increase of $300 per teu on services from Asia, excluding Japan, to northern Europe.

Others were more ambitious, with CMA CGM aiming for a peak season surcharge of $500 per teu that would be applied August 1 until further notice to all dry, empty, reefer, breakbulk and out-of-gauge cargo originating in Asia.

Coscon announced an August 1 general rate increase of $500 per teu for all Asia-north Europe containers and $550 per teu for cargo from Asia to the Mediterranean. OOCL said it planned to raise rates by $525 per teu.

Mediterranean Shipping Co and Mitsui OSK Lines targeted slightly lower August rate rises of $500 per teu.

Although the latest SCFI data shows that actual gains have been more modest so far, rates are now at the highest level for a year.

In the Mediterranean trades, spot rates gained $259 per teu or 21% to $1,493 per teu, while those from Shanghai to the US west coast were 6.5% higher over the week.

Rates for cargo moving from China to the US east coast gained 7.3% to $3,513 per feu.