Weekly Commentary on China Containerized Transportation

Liu+Zijia

In the week ending July 24， China export box transport market performs weak in general. Despite of the coming of peak season， Ocean-going services see demand have no improvement， and spot rate slip， dragging down the comprehensive index. On July 24， China （Containerized） Freight Index （CCFI） issued by Shanghai Shipping Exchange （SSE） quotes 838.71 points， down by 0.5% from one week ago; while Shanghai （Containerized） Freight Index （SCFI） issued by SSE slips by 7.5% from last week to 548.77 points.

In the Europe service， transport demand has no remarkable increase during the traditional peak season. Some box liners have ceased trades in successions since mid June， but still fail to improve the oversupply of tonnage. As data from Alphaliner， the weekly slot supply has a year-on-year increase of 5.0% in the service from Far East to Europe. As a result， the average slot utilization rate keeps at around 85%， and spot rate keeps falling， with the lowest below USD300 per TEU. On July 24， freight rates in the services from Shanghai to Europe and Mediterranean （covering seaborne surcharges） quotes USD400 per TEU and USD402 per TEU， diving by 22.8% and 24.0% from one week ago respectively.

Cargo volume keeps firm in the North America service. Impacted by the gradual recovery of transport demand in the Southwest ports， cargo volume keeps growing in the USWC service， where the average slot utilization rate is above 90%. In the USEC service， despite the stable improve of transport demand， the oversupply of capacity goes worse， and the average slot utilization rate decrease to be around 85%. Consequently， spot rate slips further， but at a slower space in most trades. On July 24， freight rates in the Shanghai to USWC and USEC services （covering seaborne surcharges） quote USD1123 per FEU and USD2538 per FEU， falling by 4.4% and 3.7% comparing with that last week respectively.

Transport demand in the Australia service performs flat， where the average slot utilization rate keeps around 90%， despite of many box liners ceasing trades in successions. Spot rate goes south， with some even below USD200 per TEU. On July 24， freight index in the China-Australia service has a week-on-week decrease of 1.2% to 618.37 points.

In the South America service， transport demand is weak in the East coast of this service， where the average slot utilization rate hovers at around 80%， and spot rate keep falling， with some even around USD150 per TEU. On the West coast of this service， transport demand keeps firm， and the average slot utilization rate is around 85%， with spot rate slip to be about USD300 per TEU. On July 24， freight index in the China-South America service quotes 425.68 points， tumbling by 7.6% from one week ago.

Cargo volume grows somehow in the Japan service， where the average slot utilization rate keeps around 65%， with spot rate stable. On July 24， freight index in the China-Japan service quotes 624.08 points.

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