Rate Slips with Demand Weak

　　China export box transport market has a flat performance, with transport demand recovering. Supply/demand condition faces pressure, leading the comprehensive index tumbling further. On March 17, Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) issued by Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) quotes 747.03 points, falling by 1.9% against one week ago.

　　European main countries see economies recover slowly, which hits local consumption and transport demand in the Europe route. Cargo volume is flat, and the average slot utilization rate in this route stands between 85%-90%, with spot rate slips depressively. On March 17, freight rate in the routes from Shanghai to Europe (covering seaborne surcharges) quote USD819/TEU, having a week-on-week decrease of 4.7%. In the Mediterranean route, economies in the South Europe perform unsatisfying, which drags down transport demand. The average slot utilization rate in the Mediterranean route sustains around 80%, with spot rate tumbling further. On March 17, freight rates in the routes from Shanghai to Mediterranean (covering seaborne surcharges) quote USD802/TEU, decreasing by 4.3% against one week ago.

　　U.S. economy improvement has insufficient foundation, which drags down the transport demand from improvement. Transport demand is too weak to recover, and the average slot utilization rate in the USWC and USEC routes are around 85% and 90% respectively, with booking rate slip continuously. On March 17, freight rates in the routes from Shanghai to USWC and USEC (covering seaborne surcharges) quote USD1338/FEU and USD2721/FEU, decreasing by 6.0% and 5.7% from one week ago respectively.

　　Cargo volume performs stable in the Persian Gulf, where the average slot utilization rate is 85% about, since some box liners limit the whole supply of capacity, which improves the oversupply of capacity. Most box liners carry out freight rate increase plan, and booking rate increases by USD100-200/TEU. On March 17, freight rate in the Shanghai-Persian Gulf route (covering seaborne surcharges) quotes USD552/TEU, growing by15.7% against one week ago.

　　In the Australia/New Zealand route, cargo volume keeps flat. As the improving capacity, the unbalanced supply/demand condition is more remarkable, and the average slot utilization rate stands 80%, with spot rate slip continuously. On March 17, freight rate in the Shanghai-Australia/New Zealand route (covering seaborne surcharges) has a week-on-week decrease of 4.3% to USD440/TEU.

　　In the South America route, transport demand keeps unchanged, and the average slot utilization rate remains around 85%, with spot rate growing. On March 17, freight rate in the Shanghai-South America route (covering seaborne surcharges) quotes USD1760/TEU, having a week-on-week increase of 9.1%.

　　Cargo volume declines slightly in the Japan route, where spot rate keeps stable. On March 17, freight index in the China-Japan route quotes 656.28 points.