Container

The FBX index fell 2.3% this week to 3,367 due to weakness on the Asia-Europe trades contrasting with a firmer transpacific market. China/East Asia-North Europe recorded the largest fall, down 9.7% to $3,293/FEU, while China/East Asia-Mediterranean declined 8.7% to $3,571/FEU.

The declines come amid signs of increasing effective capacity on the Asia-Europe trades as more vessels transit the Suez Canal, while carriers continue to use blank sailings to manage available tonnage. With China’s Golden Week approaching, further downward pressure on rates is anticipated in the near term.

Transpacific remained comparatively resilient, with China/East Asia-US West Coast increasing 1.2% to $8,446/FEU and the US East Coast route unchanged at $9,606/FEU as carriers continued to manage capacity.

Europe-South America East Coast rose 8.1% to $1,205/FEU, while Europe-South America West Coast declined 3.5% to $2,372/FEU. The wider market continues to reflect a divergence between trades, with available capacity and its deployment playing an increasingly important role in rate direction, while the substantial container vessel orderbook remains a longer-term consideration for the supply-demand balance.