Demand Unimproved but Part Freight Rate Rebound
China export box transport market is too weak to grow. Market is experiencing alliances adjustment, but box liners push up freight rate in some routes, which boosts the comprehensive index. On March 24, Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) issued by Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) quotes 758.81 points, falling by 1.6% against one week ago.
Data issued by UK National Statistics shows that economy in core nations is too weak to grow, which drags down transport cargo volume. However, part of box liners increase capacity input, leading the demand/supply condition unbalanced and spot rate slip further. The average slot utilization rate leaving off Shanghai Port is around 90%. On March 24, freight rate in the routes from Shanghai to Europe (covering seaborne surcharges) quote USD815/TEU, a slight decrease of 0.5% against one week ago. In the Mediterranean route, market has a similar performance as the Europe route, but the average slot utilization rate and is lower. Freight rate slides from last week. On March 24, freight rates in the routes from Shanghai to Mediterranean (covering seaborne surcharges) quote USD798/TEU, decreasing by 0.5% against one week ago.
U.S. economy experiences slower recovery, which drags down the transport demand. Nevertheless, as some alliances are going to adjust routes, part of cargo owners do shipment ahead, which leads space supply tightened. The average slot utilization rate in the USEC route is 95%, and that in the USWC stands around 90%. On March 24, freight rates in the routes from Shanghai to USWC and USEC (covering seaborne surcharges) quote USD1288/FEU and USD2625/FEU, decreasing by 3.7% and 3.5% from one week ago respectively.
Cargo volume has a satisfying performance in the Persian Gulf, where the average slot utilization rate rise to 95% about, since some box liners limit the whole supply of capacity, which improves the whole supply/demand condition. Some box liners try to push up freight rate in late March. On March 24, freight rate in the Shanghai-Persian Gulf route (covering seaborne surcharges) quotes USD690/TEU, growing by25.0% against one week ago.
In the Australia/New Zealand route, cargo volume keeps flat. Some box liners decide to withdraw part of vessel space to hike the average slot utilization. However, the average slot utilization sustains around 80%, with spot rate keeping unchanged. On March 24, freight rate in the Shanghai-Australia/New Zealand route (covering seaborne surcharges) quotes USD443/TEU, keeping in line with that one week ago.
In the South America route, transport demand keeps unchanged, and the average slot utilization rate remains between 85%-90%. Box liners tend to adjust freight rate in April, but as the supply/demand is weak, box liners hold different attitudes towards post market, which leads freight rate performs uneven and spot rate slips in average. On March 24, freight rate in the Shanghai-South America route (covering seaborne surcharges) quotes USD1726/TEU, having a week-on-week decrease of 1.9%.
Cargo volume keeps stable in the Japan route, where spot rate rise slightly. On March 24, freight index in the China-Japan route quotes 656.40 points.