Weekly Commentary on China Containerized Transportation

Liu+Zijia

In the week ending March 27， China export box market keeps recovering slightly， but many voyages reopen and greater boxships join the fleet， causing spot rate to find new bottom though slip slowly. On March 27， China （Containerized） Freight Index （CCFI） issued by Shanghai Shipping Exchange （SSE） quotes 1010.39 points， falling by 2.3% from one week ago; while Shanghai （Containerized） Freight Index （SCFI） issued by SSE stood at 804.59 points， diving by 2.0% against last week.

Demand/Supply in the Europe service keeps flat while the average slot utilization rate in Shanghai ports stands to be 70-80%. Although most plants have partly recovered from holiday， liners reopen suspended voyages with lots of ships. In order to attract more cargo volume， most liners have to reduce freight rate. On March 27， freight rate in the services from Shanghai to European and Mediterranean （covering seaborne surcharges） quote USD586 per TEU and USD735 per TEU， diving 5.5% and 9.0% from one week ago respectively. As demand goes under expectation， liners decide to delay the rate lift plan on Apr. 1 for one week at least.

In the North America service， cargo volume keeps improving steadily， with its demand/supply performance better than other services. In the USWC service， as the collecting and distributing keeps improving， southwest ports become more effective. Liners show cautious about future， as demand/supply keeps stable while freed vessels squeeze in market， causing rate lower slightly. In the USEC service， slot strain become loose since transport demand of boxes from USWC goes down. The relatively high spot rate enables box liners to put down rate for cargo， so rate start to slip. On March 27， freight indices in the services from China to USWC and USEC services quote 980.50 points and 1298.40 points， down by 2.4% and 1.1% comparing with that last week.

Demand has a slight recovery in the Persian Gulf/Red Sea service. As the unbalanced demand/supply condition improves， the average slot utilization rate stands around 80%. As rate has been lowered since March， liners refuse to reduce rate. However， abundant slots force liners to delay the rate increase， with spot rate hovering about. On March 27， freight rate in the Shanghai-Persian Gulf service （covering seaborne surcharges） quotes USD568 per TEU， down by 1.0% from one week ago.

Transport demand has no improvement in the Australia/New Zealand service. Despite most box liners holding on carrying out service-ceasing plan in successions， the demand/supply gap keeps wide. Due to market keeps flat， some liners cannot carry out the rate lift plan made at the beginning of April， but many liners still execute their rate increase plan as scheduled， causing rate climb largely. On March 27， freight rate in the Shanghai-Australia/New Zealand service （covering seaborne surcharges） quotes USD619 per TEU， decreasing25.8% from one week ago.

Cargo volume in the Japan service performs stable， while the average slot utilization rate in this service keeps around 60% and rate keeps immobile. On March 27， freight index in the China to Japan service quotes 697.88 points， in line with one week ago.

（Please contact the Information Dept of SSE for more details.）

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BULLETIN

TOTAL EDITION： 926

7/4/2015

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