The Loadstar

Posted by admin

September 6, 2021

Spot rates on the tradelane between Europe and US have leapt by about 180% in the past six months, with today’s Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) component indicating a rate of $5,888 per 40ft.

One UK-based forwarder with substantial cargo flows to the US told The Loadstar recently the market had “just gone crazy overnight”.

He added: “One minute we were thinking how lucky we were not to be suffering the massive rate hikes on cargo from Asia, and then we started to get advisories from carriers of GRIs and surcharges and virtually told that, unless we paid a premium fee on top of the other increases, our containers would not be shipped.

“It’s difficult to prove, but it must be more than a coincidence that this all started to kick off as some of the carriers were ‘adjusting’ their capacity.

Meanwhile, on the red hot Asia to US west coast lane, Freightos described prices as “stable”, with the FBX01 steady at $18,425 per 40ft – still 452% higher than a year ago. Likewise on Asia to the east coast, the FBX03 component was virtually unchanged, at $20,057 per 40ft.

However, the flat rates may be because the carriers have nothing left to sell, as all their sailings are fully booked for weeks to come, and any spare capacity caught up in the line of 40-plus ships waiting to discharge cargo in the San Pedro Bay.

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