The increase in container rates from China will become even stronger in the coming weeks as the Christmas madness continues to take hold, Drewry expects.

A forty-foot container from Shanghai to Rotterdam now ships for an average of $3,396, compared to $3,132 a week ago, according to accountants from England. This is the second time this year that experts attribute an increase in container rates to the influence of the Christmas festival. Rates skyrocketed in the spring as shippers started importing their December supplies very early because of the uncertainty caused by the Red Sea crisis and container shipping disruptions.

High season

The high season, which started so early in the spring, ended during July. Since then, container rates have been in a downward spiral. However, there was never any question of a collapse. Despite the steady decline, rates remained at a relatively high level due to the ongoing Red Sea crisis.

Today's Shanghai-Rotterdam rate is 224% higher than the rate of the same week last year. At the time, rates had taken a nosedive after the boom of the corona years. Later in November 2023, the Houthis would start their attacks on cargo shipping and everything would change.

No movement

According to Drewry, rates on other major container routes are quite stable this week. On Shanghai-Rotterdam the average fare will increase by one percent, on the transatlantic (Rotterdam-New York and vice versa) there will be no movement in prices at all.

The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), like Drewry, sees rates from Shanghai to Europe rising: to $2,442 per twenty-footer this week. Last week that was $2,226 per teu. A week earlier, in mid-October, the rate had reached its preliminary bottom level: $ 1,950. The current increase represents a return to the level of the end of September. However, container shipping companies seem to only be able to dream of a return to the prices of the beginning of the summer, when the average rate per teu was above 5,000 dollars.

Source: NT