The average spot rate jumped 10.3 percent this week for shipping a 40-foot container from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants weekly survey of spot market prices paid by freight forwarders and non-vessel-operating common carriers.
The average rate, which excludes terminal handling charges in Hong Kong, hit $1,486 this week, up $140 per FEU from $1,346 in the week ended Sept. 13. The rate was still down by 28.5 percent from the average rate of $2,078 per FEU in the same week last year.
“In the past year, container freight rates have been even more volatile than the stock market,” said Philip Damas, division director of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.
He said the lowest spot rate being paid this week is $1,300 per FEU and the highest is $1,650.
The average spot rate, which is published weekly by The Journal of Commerce, plunged below $1,000 per FEU in May of this year and dropped as low as $871 per FEU for five consecutive weeks in July and August before rebounding by 49.2 percent in the week ended Aug. 9.
This week’s average spot rate of $1,486 is 70.6 percent higher than the lows hit during those July-August doldrums. The increase reflects the across-the-board and largely successful efforts by all container lines to raise rates on all their global routes and services since that low point.
This week four major carriers increased rates, and one, Evergreen, added to its bunker charge as the momentum of price hikes takes hold around the world.
Maersk Line will increase rates as of Oct. 1 on its services between the Eastern Mediterranean/Black Sea and West Africa.
Mediterranean Shipping Co. will raise rates on all services from Asia to Europe, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as of Oct. 1.
Evergreen’s rate increases apply from Canada as well as from the U.S. East Coast, Gulf and Pacific Coasts to Asia and Europe.
Just eight days after raising the rates on eastbound cargo shipped from North Europe and the Mediterranean to Asia, CMA CGM announced a rate increase in the opposite direction.
The average rate, which excludes terminal handling charges in Hong Kong, hit $1,486 this week, up $140 per FEU from $1,346 in the week ended Sept. 13. The rate was still down by 28.5 percent from the average rate of $2,078 per FEU in the same week last year.
“In the past year, container freight rates have been even more volatile than the stock market,” said Philip Damas, division director of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.
He said the lowest spot rate being paid this week is $1,300 per FEU and the highest is $1,650.
The average spot rate, which is published weekly by The Journal of Commerce, plunged below $1,000 per FEU in May of this year and dropped as low as $871 per FEU for five consecutive weeks in July and August before rebounding by 49.2 percent in the week ended Aug. 9.
This week’s average spot rate of $1,486 is 70.6 percent higher than the lows hit during those July-August doldrums. The increase reflects the across-the-board and largely successful efforts by all container lines to raise rates on all their global routes and services since that low point.
This week four major carriers increased rates, and one, Evergreen, added to its bunker charge as the momentum of price hikes takes hold around the world.
Maersk Line will increase rates as of Oct. 1 on its services between the Eastern Mediterranean/Black Sea and West Africa.
Mediterranean Shipping Co. will raise rates on all services from Asia to Europe, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as of Oct. 1.
Evergreen’s rate increases apply from Canada as well as from the U.S. East Coast, Gulf and Pacific Coasts to Asia and Europe.
Just eight days after raising the rates on eastbound cargo shipped from North Europe and the Mediterranean to Asia, CMA CGM announced a rate increase in the opposite direction.