The World Container Index assessed by Drewry is up by 5 % to 1,539.16 $ for a 40ft container. The freight market is expected to be buoyant until mid-February.
The index, a composite of container freight rates on eight major routes to/from the US, Europe and Asia, is up by 5 % thi[ds_preview]s week and down by 13.9 % from the same period of 2017. The average composite index of the WCI, assessed by Drewry for year-to-date, is 1,453 $ for a 40ft container, which is 122 $ lower than the five-year average of 1,575 $ per 40ft container.
The Composite Index jumped by 73 $ to 1,539 $ per FEU this week on the back of the final round of GRIs before the Chinese New Year holidays. The rates on Shanghai-New York increased by 61 $ per FEU to reach 2,944 $. Similarly, the rates on Shanghai-Los Angeles surged to 1,565 $ per FEU this week – a change of 120 $ from last week.
Rates on the Asia-Europe route also strengthened this week; Shanghai-Genoa gathered 107 $ to reach 1,634 $, and Shanghai-Rotterdam gained 95 $ to reach 1,813 $ for a 40ft box. »We expect the freight market to be buoyant until mid-February on the back of the pre-CNY volumes,« Drewry says.
