APL’s container rates reach four-year high

APL’s container rates reach four-year high    Average container freight rates at APL reached a four-year high of $2,739 per 40-foot equivalent unit in the four-week period ended Aug. 22, providing the latest evidence of the sharp recovery of the container shipping industry.
   Neptune Orient Lines, the parent company of APL, reported that rates in the latest four-week period were 26 percent higher than in the same period of 2002. In the summer and fall of 2000, another strong year for containership operators, APL’s average rates peaked at about $2,700.
   “APL’s ongoing focus on high-yield cargo and greater exposure to long-haul trades continued to drive the rate improvement year-on-year,” it said. “Capacity demand in the major headhaul direction remained strong, achieving high vessel utilization and volume growth.”
   APL carried 120,300 FEUs in the latest four-week period, 2 percent more than a year ago.
   For its logistics activities, APL’s overall revenue grew by 9 percent in the four-week period to Aug. 22, when compared with the same period last year. The increase was driven mainly by contract logistics. APL Logistics’ revenue from contract logistics services rose by 14 percent year-on-year, to $56.3 million, whereas revenue from international services dropped by 5 percent in the latest four-week period, to $17.4 million.