Spot container rates rise 6.5% despite Asia-Europe decline

Higher rates to the United States drove the increase in the overall spot rate reading, despite rates to Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean continuing to fall.    Spot container rates as published in the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, which includes spot rate estimates from Shanghai to 15 regions around the world, rose from a reading of 533.91 last week to a reading of 568.71. 
   The 6.5 percent increase in the overall reading was driven by higher rates to the U.S. West Coast and the U.S. East Coast, which resulted from Oct. 15 general rate increases, Richard Ward, a container derivatives broker at Freight Investor Service in London said. 
   Rates from Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast rose from $1,197 per forty-foot container (FEU) to $1,377 per FEU, while rates from Shanghai to the U.S. East Coast rose from $2,199 per FEU to $2,390 per FEU.
   Rates from Shanghai to Northwest Europe fell from $259 per TEU to $233 per TEU, while rates from Shanghai to the Mediterranean fell from $244 per TEU to $195 per TEU.
   Rates on these two trades have continued to decline since the first week of September.
   As an attempt to halt the rate erosion, the majority of carriers are looking to increase rates on European trades around $1,000 per TEU starting Nov. 1, Ward said.
   “Currently the container forward on the North West Europe route is being priced at a substantial premium to spot with rates for Q1 2015 around 130 percent higher than current levels of $233 per TEU,” said Ward. “By comparison reports suggest fixed rates in the physical market are being priced at a marginal premium at around $300-350 per TEU.”