Gulf between spot rates from China to U.S. East, West Coast grows.

Spot rate for 40-foot container moving from Shanghai to the U.S. East Coast estimated to be more than $5,000.    The gulf between spot freight rates from Asia to the U.S. West Coast and U.S. East Coast continues to grow.
   According to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, the spot rate for a 40-foot container moving from Shanghai to the West Coast is $2,265 per 40-foot container, an increase of $23 from last week, compared with $5,049 per FEU moving to the U.S. East Coast, and increase of $71 for the week.
   “Rates to the USEC continued their unrelenting climb,” said Richard Ward, a container derivatives brokers at FIS in London. “With continued troubles at the ports of the USWC, rates to the East Coast are 54 percent higher than the corresponding period of 2014 and are again reaching new all-time highs.”
   The Shanghai Shipping Exchange publishes estimates of container spot rates to various locations around the world each Friday. The rates are determined by polling a panel of shipowners, brokers and shippers.