Container rates after a summer revival are now completely back to square one
SHANGHAI-ROTTERDAM NOW 1299 DOLLARS
The spot rates in container liner shipping are now completely back to square one; the price increases that the container shipping companies managed to enforce in the middle of the summer have completely evaporated. According to British consultant Drewry, the average rate on the Shanghai-Rotterdam route fell by 10% last week to $1,299 per forty-foot container. It means a new low record for this year. The previous low was at the end of June: $1313.
At the height of the corona years, container shipping companies between Shanghai and Rotterdam could charge up to $15,000 per container. Last August, the shipping companies managed to raise the average spot rate to above $1,750 per forty-footer, partly thanks to a modest recovery in volumes.
The price level that has now collapsed again reminds shipping companies of the pre-corona years, when the rate sometimes fluctuated around $1,200. In practice, however, shipping companies now find themselves in much more difficult waters than at the time because costs have risen explosively, meaning that on balance they now operate below cost price. CEO Rolf Habben Jansen of Hapag-Lloyd, among others, has repeatedly called the rate level unsustainable and argued that it is inevitable that prices will rise again, but in practice spot rates have only fallen further in recent weeks. Based on the new Drewry statistics, Danish shipping expert Lars Jensen predicted that rates will fall even further in the coming weeks unless container shipping companies make even more rigorous cuts in their sailing programme.
SHANGHAI-ROTTERDAM NOW 1299 DOLLARS
The spot rates in container liner shipping are now completely back to square one; the price increases that the container shipping companies managed to enforce in the middle of the summer have completely evaporated. According to British consultant Drewry, the average rate on the Shanghai-Rotterdam route fell by 10% last week to $1,299 per forty-foot container. It means a new low record for this year. The previous low was at the end of June: $1313.
At the height of the corona years, container shipping companies between Shanghai and Rotterdam could charge up to $15,000 per container. Last August, the shipping companies managed to raise the average spot rate to above $1,750 per forty-footer, partly thanks to a modest recovery in volumes.
The price level that has now collapsed again reminds shipping companies of the pre-corona years, when the rate sometimes fluctuated around $1,200. In practice, however, shipping companies now find themselves in much more difficult waters than at the time because costs have risen explosively, meaning that on balance they now operate below cost price. CEO Rolf Habben Jansen of Hapag-Lloyd, among others, has repeatedly called the rate level unsustainable and argued that it is inevitable that prices will rise again, but in practice spot rates have only fallen further in recent weeks. Based on the new Drewry statistics, Danish shipping expert Lars Jensen predicted that rates will fall even further in the coming weeks unless container shipping companies make even more rigorous cuts in their sailing programme.