Export freights from the Port of València stabilised in March and experienced a slight increase of +2.13%. This is reflected in the València Containerised Freight Index (VCFI) which in the third month of 2024 stands at 1,790.11 points – remaining at similar levels to those recorded during the first quarter of 2021. The VCFI accumulates a growth since the beginning of the historical series in January 2018 of 79.01%, according to the company's release.
The Index reflects increases in export freight rates from the Mediterranean to the East Coast Africa area (+6.08%), followed by the USA and Canada (+5.92%) and the Middle East (+4.96%) while the largest decreases have been in freight rates from the Baltic States area (-39.42%).
As detailed in the analysis of the latest VCFI report – a benchmark for freight rates from the Mediterranean area to the rest of the world – “there is an increased demand for maritime transport derived from international trade. This has led to a considerable increase in global container throughput for four consecutive months. The latest reading highlights that, without the sharp drop in container throughput in Chinese ports, influenced to some extent by the impact of the Chinese New Year, the increase would have been even more significant. In addition, in European ports, container throughput increased by almost three per cent, possibly driven by the recovery of German exports as well as the Red Sea incidents.
Maritime traffic has accumulated in recent months a series of disruptions that have caused what has been called the “perfect storm” causing freight rates to rise: the drought in the Panama Canal – making it difficult for large vessels to pass through; the Yemeni Houthi attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea – which have forced the diversion of much of the traffic between Asia and Europe via the Cape of Good Hope; and the recent incident of the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge.
The Western Mediterranean sub-index shows a slight increase over the previous month of +0.34%. With this, the VCFI for the Western Mediterranean area stands at 1,935.40 points, representing an accumulated growth of +93.54% since the start of the series in 2018.
As for Valenciaport, according to the most recent data, there has been an increase in the volume of exports to Morocco and Algeria, while exports to Tunisia have decreased.
In the Far East area, a fall of -9.68% has been recorded, standing at 2,424.39 points, representing an accumulated growth of +142.44% since the start of the series in January 2018.
As far as Valenciaport is concerned, and according to the most recent data available, traffic with the Far East has increased, and China continues to be the main trading partner in this area. This is mainly due to the increase in transhipment traffic at the Valencian docks, mainly originating in Asia and destined for other Mediterranean ports.