Weekly highlights
Ocean rates were level overall this week, as carriers are reportedly reducing capacity to meet falling demand.
Excess available space had Asia – US West Coast rates fall 29% in June, while prices have decreased only 4% so far in July.
Despite these decreases, ocean rates are still 5x higher than 2019.
The National Retail Federation reported a record number of import containers in May, but projects declining volumes for July to October, marking the first year-on-year declines since July 2020.
But volumes, like rates, are falling from an extremely high starting point, meaning monthly peak season volumes would still be 13% to 15% higher than in 2019, suggesting that peak season could still be very busy.
Falling demand is meant to signal the beginning of the end for port congestion, but it is also causing an unexpected increase in inventories, which, for now, may be making congestion worse as imports with no place to go clog up port and rail yards.
Asia-US rates for this week
- Asia-US West Coast prices (FBX01 Daily) fell 2% to $7,271/FEU. This rate is 32% lower than the same time last year.
- Asia-US East Coast prices (FBX03 Daily) increased 1% to $10,020/FEU, and are 31% lower than rates for this week last year.
Check in next week for more real-time freight market updates to help you ship smoother.
More rates from Freightos.com
| Containerized Freight Rates from the Freightos Baltic Index | |||||
| FBX Lane | Global | Asia – US West Coast | Asia –US East Coast | Asia – North Europe | North Europe – US East Coast |
| This Week | $6,427 | $7,271 | $10,020 | $10,398 | $8,189 |
| Last Week | -1% | -2% | 1% | -1% | 0% |
| Last Year* | -20% | -32% | -31% | -22% | 40% |
