World Container Index starts publishing

World Container Index starts publishing    Drewry, the London-based shipping consultant, and Cleartrade Exchange, an electronic marketplace for overt the counter freight and commodity swaps, said Thursday they have begun publishing the World Container Index.
   The WCI reports spot container freight rates for major east/west trade routes and consists of 11 route-specific indices representing individual shipping routes and a composite index. Unlike the Shanghai Container Freight Index, which publishes outbound rates on 15 routes from Shanghai to various destinations around the world, WCI includes rates on a variety of trades including back haul routes.
   WCI said data is gathered from actual transactions reported by panelists in the United States, Europe and Asia, representing a cross-section of users in the container freight market. WCI has already sold subscriptions to the weekly index and will initially offer two access levels.
   All subscribers will receive the live index, historical prices graph and a weekly e-mail report. Advanced subscribers can see monthly, quarterly and year-to-date index averages, a forward curve, historical data, settlement prices. Container freight swap volumes will be added later.
   The first published WCIWorld Container IndexWCI freight rates show increases on some, but not all, major routes. The spot container freight rate index on the Shanghai-Genoa route was $2,270 per 40-foot container this week, up 8 percent on the assessment made in the first week of August. On the Shanghai-New York route, this week's spot rate is $3,477 per 40-foot container, up 11 percent on the assessment made in the first week of August. The WCI rate indices for the backhaul routes from Europe and the United States to China have remained stable in the past month.

Damas

   “We expect trading of container derivatives against the WCI index to start this month,' Philip Damas, division director of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. 'Moreover, shippers who have contacted WCI will gain access to the latest weekly indices and the historical prices, for the purpose of benchmarking and index-linked contract formation, from this week.'
   WCI routes are:
   ' Shanghai to Rotterdam.
   ' Shanghai to Los Angeles.
   ' Rotterdam to New York.
   ' Rotterdam to Shanghai.
   ' Los Angeles to Shanghai.
   ' Los Angeles to Rotterdam.
   ' Shanghai to Genoa.
   ' Shanghai to New York.
   ' Rotterdam to Los Angeles.
   ' Genoa to Shanghai.
   ' New York to Rotterdam.