SCFI declines for second straight week

Rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe fell 4.7 percent since last week, despite several major ocean carriers looking to increase rates on the trade in mid-May.    The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) dipped 2.8 percent from last Friday’s reading of 579.60 to a reading of 563.22.
   From Shanghai to Northwest Europe, rates fell 4.7 percent since last week, from $636 per TEU to $606 per TEU, despite several major ocean carriers looking to increase rates in mid-May.
   On the Shanghai to Mediterranean trade, rates fell 0.5 percent since last week, from $873 per TEU to $869 per TEU.
   However, ocean carrier CMA CGM of France will increase rates from Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean June 1 by $450 per TEU, and again June 15 by $450 per TEU (400 euros per TEU to Syria).
   “With fuel oil prices increasing since the start of 2016, carriers will be hoping that any increases they can implement will stick and therefore at least partially offset their rising costs,” Richard Ward, a container derivatives specialist at Freight Investor Services said in a statement.
   Meanwhile, rates from Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast dropped from $863 per forty-foot container (FEU) last week, to $818 per FEU, a 5.2 percent decline. Rates from Shanghai to the U.S. East Coast dropped 3.8 percent since last week, from $1,683 per FEU to $1,619 per FEU.