Spot container rates sink for third straight week

Since last week, rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean fell by 31.4 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively.    Spot container rates as measured by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) have dropped 8.1 percent from last week’s reading of 622.60 to a reading of 571.95. The overall SCFI includes spot rate estimates from Shanghai to a total of 15 regions around the world.
   Since last week, rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe fell from $456 per TEU to a $313 per TEU, while rates from Shanghai to the Mediterranean fell from $448 per TEU to $313 per TEU.
   Rates from Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast dropped from $1,379 per 40-foot container (FEU) to a reading of $1,291 per FEU, while rates from Shanghai to the U.S. East Coast fell from $2,427 per FEU to $2,318 per FEU.