Spot container rates continue to tumble

Spot container rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean have steadily dropped since Sept. 4., according to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index.    Spot container rates as measured by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) have dropped 6.7 percent in the last two weeks, from a reading of 571.95 two weeks ago to a reading of 533.91 on Friday.
   No SCFI reading was published last week as a result of the Chinese Golden Week holidays.
   From two weeks ago, rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe dropped from $313 per TEU to $259 per TEU, while rates from Shanghai to the Mediterranean fell from $313 per TEU to $244 per TEU.
   Rates on these two trades have continued to decline since the first week of Sept. 
   Rates from Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast dropped from $1,291 per 40-foot container (FEU) to $1,197 per FEU, while rates from Shanghai to the U.S. East Coast fell from $2,318 per FEU to $2,199 per FEU.
   From Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast, rates have continued to fall since Sept. 11, while rates from Shanghai to the U.S. East Coast have been on the decline since Aug. 14.
   “This week saw the European Commission announce that it is nearing a close regarding the probe into carrier’s pricing practices that was initially launched over four years ago,” Richard Ward, a container derivatives broker at Freight Investor Services in London said. “Reports indicate that carriers will have to publish actual binding spot rates rather than only tell customers the size of the potential increase, which could end GRI’s in their current form.”