Spot container rates decline for third straight week

Rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe, the Mediterranean and the United States have all fallen in each of the past three consecutive weeks.    Spot container rates as measured by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index fell 9.5 percent from last week’s reading of 680.22 to a reading of 615.77, representing a decline for the past three straight weeks.
   In fact, rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe, the Mediterranean and the United States have all fallen for the past three consecutive weeks.
   Since last week, rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe declined 26.4 percent, from $740 per TEU to $545 per TEU, while rates from Shanghai to the Mediterranean tumbled 27.6 percent, from $869 per TEU to $629 per TEU.
   In addition, rates from Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast declined from $1,417 per FEU last week (forty-foot container) to $1,377 per FEU, while rates to the U.S. East Coast fell from $2,457 per FEU to $2,420 per FEU, a decline of 2.8 percent, and 1.5 percent, respectively.