Drewry: Spot container rates on major East-West routes hit 20-month high

The World Container Index has increased by 62 percent since the bankruptcy of Hanjin at the end of August 2016, London-based shipping research and consulting firm Drewry said.    Spot container freight rates on the major East-West routes reached a 20-month high this week, Drewry said Thursday.
   The latest weekly reading for the composite World Container Index (WCI), a container pricing index published each Thursday based on actual agreed freight assessments, totaled $1,770 per FEU, up 17.8 percent from last Thursday.
   The WCI is a joint venture between Drewry Shipping Consultants and Cleartrade Exchange, and measures spot rates on a total of 11 transpacific, Asia-Europe and transatlantic routes.
   Drewry attributed the index’s increase to higher rates on the Rotterdam-New York, Shanghai-Rotterdam, and Shanghai-Los Angeles lanes, which as of yesterday, totaled $1,785 per FEU, $2,210 per FEU and $2,106 per FEU, respectively.
   The WCI has increased by 62 percent since the bankruptcy of Hanjin at the end of August 2016, which is when Drewry then described the prevailing rates as “unsustainable,” the London-based shipping research and consulting firm said.
   “Since last September, we have consistently and rightly warned our exporter and importer customers to expect rate increases in both the spot and contract markets,” said Philip Damas, head of the logistics practice of Drewry.
   In addition, the Drewry Benchmarking Club Contract Rate Index, which is based on average transpacific and Asia-Europe contract freight rate data provided confidentially by shippers, rose in the fourth quarter of 2016, after having fallen for more than six straight quarters, Drewry said.
   Meanwhile, the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), an estimate of spot rates published each Friday from Shanghai to 15 regions throughout the world, rose 1.8 percent from last Friday to a reading of 968.40. The SCFI stood at 596.38 on Aug. 26, just five days prior to Hanjin filing for court receivership in South Korea.