Maersk ups A-E rate to US$1,300/TEU, spot mart up on Lunar New Year
MAERSK was the first to announce New Year's Asia-Europe rate increases under the new European Commission regime in which maximum rate hikes must be announced one month in advance.
Thus, the maximum rates to Asia to Rotterdam rates will be increased to US$1,300 per TEU and $2,400 per FEU while Asia to Felixstowe rates go up to $1,350 per TEU and $2,500 per FEU.
These rules emerged from a "voluntary" agreement with the European Commission after its five-year anti-trust investigation into alleged "price signalling" produced nothing in the way of evidence.
But since December 7, Asia-Europe carriers have been obliged to change the way they announce prices to customers and must now publish maximum, all inclusive rates for a route a month before implementation.
This also the first rate hike announced ahead of Chinese New Year which brings peak factory production ahead of the week-long holiday that start January 28.
The container lines have been encouraged by the relatively robust state of the spot market, which for North Europe has remained above $1,000 per TEU going into the Christmas period, reports London's Loadstar.
This compares with 2015 when the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) rate fell to $558 per TEU, an increase made less significant because last year's mid-December rate hike came at the nadir of the shipping year as Chinese New Year was late, starting on February 19.
Its early commencement this year signals an immediate high shipping demand justifying a demand for higher rates from late December.
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