Drewry's index of spot rates for containers reached the highest level since March 2015 in the wake of the Hanjin bankruptcy and as container alliances rationalise boxship capacity.
The latest weekly reading of the World Container Index is $1,770 per forty-feet equivalent unit (FEU).
The gain reflects increases on individual lanes to $1,785 for the Rotterdam-New York index (up $4 this week), $2,210 for the Shanghai-Rotterdam index (up $257 this week) and $2,106 for the Shanghai-Los Angeles index (up $545 this week).
Drewry expects the volume upsurge on account of an early Chinese New Year to support further increases next week.
The World Container Index is up 62% since the bankruptcy of Hanjin at the end of August last year.
“Since last September, we have consistently and rightly warned our exporter and importer customers to expect rate increases in both the spot and contract markets,” said Philip Damas, head of the logistics practice of Drewry.
The World Container Index uses an average of spot rates on 11 transpacific, Asia-Europe and transatlantic routes.
