Analysis Logistics
Customers want to get rid of contract prices for containers
Container spot rates are virtually unchanged this week. Nevertheless, there is still a slight decrease of 0,3% in the Drewry's World Container Index, making it the 43rd consecutive week of decline. Spot rates are increasingly out of step with contract prices due to this constant decline.
The average price for a 40-foot container, according to Drewry's information, is $2.120 (last week $2.127). On an annual basis, the rate decrease is 77%, just like last week. The platform also expects small rate decreases for the coming weeks.
Freight data platform Xeneta recently conducted a poll during a webinar showing that none of the customers intend to continue with their current long-term contracts. 55% try to get new rates by requesting a quote. 31% are currently negotiating a new contract for 2023 as it expires. 27% of customers are renegotiating an existing long-term contract or plan to do so in the first quarter of 2023. 12% of customers also try to transport part of the volume at spot rates.
Shipping companies are still taking capacity out of service to try to keep prices up, the so-called blank sailings. The Load Star quotes Global Shippers' Forum director James Hookham. The big question, he says, is how much of the remaining volume will shippers commit to renegotiated contracts and how much will be reserved by the spot market. Speaking of the continued decline since the second quarter of 2022, he says: “These are conditions not seen in the container shipping market for more than a decade, with many shippers experiencing the behavior of the market under such conditions for the first time.”
Drewry's World Index
| Route | December 8, '22 | December 15, '22 | December 2, '22 | Change last week | Mutation per year |
| Index | $2.139 | $2.127 | $2.120 | 0% | -77% |
| Shanghai-Rotterdam | $1.686 | $1.674 | $1.706 | + 2 % | -87% |
| Rotterdam-Shanghai | $799 | $797 | $789 | -1% | -49% |
| Shanghai - Genoa | $2.908 | $2.909 | $2.879 | 0% | -81% |
| Shanghai-Los Angeles | $1.997 | $2.000 | $1.992 | 0% | -81% |
| Los Angeles-Shanghai | $1.182 | $1.175 | $1.169 | -1% | -11% |
| Shanghai-New York | $3.993 | $3.952 | $3.889 | -2% | -70% |
| New York - Rotterdam | $1.322 | $1.269 | $1.263 | 0% | + 6 % |
| Rotterdam - New York | $7.151 | $7.050 | $6.989 | -1% | + 11 % |
Freightos does not provide an extensive overview this week, but does provide the average container price. At $2.128, it is $1 higher than last week.
Bulk transport
The Baltic Dry Index, the global index for bulk transport, is at 1.650 points. Last week the index was at 1.528 points. The Panamax Index, which tracks about 60.000 to 70.000 tons of coal and grain shipments, is lower than last week by 1.563 points (last week 1.658 points).
Linda van Eekeres
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