APL’s container rates slide again

APL’s container rates slide again    Average container freight rates at APL declined for the fourth month in a row, when compared to a peak reached during the summer, the latest financial statistics released by its parent company Neptune Orient Lines show.
   For the latest six-week period to Dec. 26, APL’s average rate was $2,532 per 40-foot equivalent unit, up 16 percent from the same period in 2002, but down 5 percent from the average level of $2,653 per FEU in the four-week period ended Nov. 14, 2003.
   Commenting on the 5-percent fall in average rates in the latest period, APL said that it was “due to planned increases in volumes of intra-Asia, transpacific and Asia-Europe backhaul volumes during the traditional off-peak season in the transpacific eastbound.” Eastbound Pacific rates are known to be higher than westbound Pacific prices and intra-Asia rates.
   APL’s average monthly freight rates are affected by the mix of cargoes and trade lanes. They also provide an indicator of global pricing trends in container shipping.
   APL said that headhaul volumes and revenue per FEU in the transpacific and Asia-Europe “remained relatively strong” in spite of it being the traditional off-peak period in the transpacific.
   APL also reported “high vessel utilization” across all trades, with particularly strong volumes and load factors out of Asia into Europe and Asia to Middle East. The transpacific eastbound trade “also remained strong relative to past years,” it added.
   The fall in average revenue per container at the end of 2003 at APL was more pronounced than in the previous year. However, average rates in the six-week period to Dec. 26 were still about $500 per FEU higher than a year before.