Container shipping rates are not back to normal quite yet. Trans-Pacific rates have returned to pre-COVID levels, but pricing in trans-Atlantic markets has not.
Spot container rates from Europe to the U.S. — while falling — are still more than twice pre-pandemic rates. U.S. imports from Europe remain strong, with building materials supporting volumes.
The Drewry World Container Index (WCI) spot-rate assessment for Rotterdam, Netherlands, to New York was $5,061 per forty-foot equivalent unit in the week ending Thursday. That’s down 32% from last year’s peak but still 2.5 times rates in March 2019.
Asia-West Coast spot rates shot far higher than trans-Atlantic rates during the 2021-2022 shipping boom but came down faster and fell further. The WCI Rotterdam-New York spot-rate assessment was 2.7 times higher than the Shanghai-Los Angeles index assessment last week.
Current import headwinds from bloated inventories are curbing transport demand for manufactured consumer goods, in particular. Europe, which provides about 20% of U.S. containerized imports, is much less exposed to that market than Asia.
Different spot-rate indexes show different numbers but the same trend: trans-Atlantic rates down from the peak and continuing to fall but still well above pre-COVID levels.
The Freightos Baltic Daily Index (FBX) put Europe-East Coast spot rates at $3,891 per FEU on Friday. That’s down 54% from 2022 highs but 2.3 times March 2019 levels.
