Container Rates Climb Six Weeks on Americas Demand, Chinese Delays
Container shipping rates have risen for six consecutive weeks. This is attributed to sustained demand in the Americas and delays in vessel schedules at major Chinese ports due to consecutive typhoons.
According to Korea Ocean Business Corporation (KOBC) on the 8th, the KOBC Container Composite Index (KCCI) recorded 4,697 points as of the 7th, up 106 points (2.3%) from the previous week. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), a global freight rate benchmark, also rose by 80.52 points (2.3%) to 3,590.05 points.
The KCCI, developed and published by KOBC, has been released every Monday since July 2022. The index is designed to track container shipping rate changes across 13 major routes from Busan Port to the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and nearby regions (China, Japan, Southeast Asia).
This week, while European routes continued to show weakness, rising rates on the Americas and Southeast Asia routes offset this decline, leading to an overall increase compared to the previous week, KOBC analyzed.
In particular, vessel congestion and schedule delays at major Chinese ports caused by consecutive typhoons persisted, increasing the burden on short-distance services between China and Southeast Asia. As a result, Southeast Asia routes surged by 12.2% compared to the previous week.
In detail, the Americas routes continued their upward trend due to supply disruptions from China and operational constraints at the Panama Canal. Delays at major Chinese ports cascaded into trans-Pacific voyages. Additionally, the Panama Canal Authority’s daily slot reduction, implemented on September 3, and a further reduction scheduled for September 15, exacerbated the strain. However, the originally planned odd-numbered vessel restrictions were postponed to October 1, mitigating immediate impacts, KOBC explained.
European routes continued to decline as weak demand outweighed high port congestion.
Middle Eastern routes closed flat as supply pressures in the Gulf region were offset by expanded Suez Canal transit capacity.
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