Weekly Commentary on China Containerized Transportation

Zhu+Pengzhou

In the first week after the Chinese New Year， China export box market sees that transport demand is too weak to grow， which is impacted by the rest of plants. Most box liners have to reduce capacity by integrating services， with the whole transport market on the downward trend.

On Feb.27， China （Export） Containerized Freight Index （CCFI） issued by Shanghai Shipping Exchange （SSE） quotes 1076.20 points， up by 0.2% from one week ago; while Shanghai （Export） Containerized Freight Index （SCFI） issued by SSE quotes 1023. 40 points， slip by 6.0% from last week.

In the European service， most box liners limit capacity largely to cope with the slack period after Chinese New Year. Considering that the market needs time to have a recovery， box liners is negative towards the post market.

On Feb.27， freight indices in the services from China to Europe and Mediterranean services quote 1330.64 points and 1542.91 points， down by 1.4% and 2.4% from last week.

Furthermore， despite some box liners announcing to hike freight rate in mid March， the unbalanced supply/demand condition dampens freight rate increase plan.

In the North America service， transport demand in the post Chinese New Year is impacted by the whole market and starts to slip， but the average slot utilization rates in the USWC and USEC services keep on the relatively high level， with the demand/supply condition not bad. However， the increasing effect in ports boosts the grow of capacity， which maybe not benefit for the freight rate， especially for that in the USWC service， where freight rate slips remarkably; while in the USEC services， it sees freight rate has a slight decrease because of the good expectation of demand/supply condition. On Feb.27， freight rates in the Shanghai to USWC and USEC services （covering seaborne surcharges） quote USD2009 per FEU and USD4946 per FEU， diving by 11.3% and 2.0% respectively from one week ago.

Transport demand in the Australia service keeps slump， with most box liners strengthening to limit capacity. As a result， capacity supply shrinks comparing with that before the Chinese holiday， but still fails to reverse the condition of excess supply of ship slots. Spot rate in this service falls further， with the lowest around USD500 per TEU. On Feb.27， fright rate in the Shanghai-Australia service （covering seaborne surcharges） quote USD662 per TEU， falling by 5.8% from one week ago.

In the South America service， impacted by the weak demand in the destination， the average slot utilization rate in many services falls to be below 60%.endprint

Spot rate keeps slipping， with some even below USD600 per TEU. On Feb.27， freight index in the China-South America service quotes 807.03 points， having a week-on-week decrease of 2.7%.

Cargo volume has a slip from that before the holiday in the Japan service， where the average slot utilization rate leaving Shanghai declines somehow， with spot rate stumbling. On Feb.27， freight index in the China-Japan service quotes 713.97 points.

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

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10/3/2015

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