At present, container freight rates have further fallen to the lowest level since 2024.
Shipping analyst John McCown pointed out that trans-Pacific freight volume has been significantly weak recently.
Release time：
2025-04-10
Source：
At present, container freight rates have further fallen to the lowest level since 2024.
Specifically, the latest WCI comprehensive freight index of Drewry shows that it has fallen by 4% compared with last week to US$2,168 per 40-foot container. Among them, trans-Pacific freight rates fell by 4%, Asia-Europe/Mediterranean freight rates fell by 5%, and trans-Atlantic freight rates fell by 7%.
Shipping analyst John McCown pointed out that trans-Pacific freight volume has been significantly weak recently.
In February, US container imports increased by only 3.4% year-on-year, the smallest increase in 16 months (the year-on-year increase in January and December last year was 13.7% and 14.2% respectively). In addition, with the conclusion of the US East Coast Port Labor Agreement (ILA), shippers' confidence has been restored, and cargo flows are flowing back from the West Coast to the East Coast.
Data shows that cargo volume in US West Coast ports (such as Los Angeles and Long Beach) increased by 7.4% year-on-year, but the growth rate has slowed down significantly compared with previous months (the gap between US West Coast and US East Coast cargo volume reached 21.4% in January and shrank to 7.7% in February).
The cargo volume of ports in the eastern United States fell slightly by 0.3% year-on-year, but some hubs performed well, such as the Port of Charleston, which increased by 8%; the worst performer last month was the Port of Houston, with a 14.5% drop in cargo volume, followed by the Port of Norfolk, which fell by 14.2%.
The main reasons for the decline in freight rates include weakening demand and strategic shifts in carrier alliances, rather than expected early adjustments in freight rates. In addition, the significant reduction in the number of blank ships (from 109 in March to 86 in April) also had an impact on this trend.
Faced with the trend of continued low freight rates, global shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) has taken action. The company recently issued a notice announcing the cancellation of 6 voyages on the trans-Pacific route. Specifically:
The UK514A voyage of the Chinook route connecting the Far East to Prince Rupert, Vancouver, Canada and Seattle/Tacoma, the United States was cancelled in the 14th week.
In the 17th week, the Pearl route GQ517N and the Orient route GO517N from Asia to the US West Coast, as well as the America route GU517W and the Lone Star route GN517E from Asia to the US East Coast were cancelled.
In the 18th week, the Empire route GE518E from Asia to the US East Coast was cancelled.
According to Drewry’s data on March 28, on the main east-west trade routes (including trans-Pacific, trans-Atlantic, Asia to North Europe and Mediterranean routes), 68 of the 713 originally planned voyages have been cancelled from the 14th week (March 31 to April 6) to the 18th week (April 28 to May 4), with a cancellation rate of up to 10%.
Drewry forecasts that in the next five weeks, the eastbound transpacific route is expected to have the highest cancellation rate of 47% among the east-west routes, followed by the westbound transatlantic route with a cancellation rate of 28%, and the Asia to North Europe and Mediterranean routes will also face a cancellation rate of 25%.
At the same time, Drewry predicts that the reliability of the ship schedule will decline in the next five weeks, although the forecast shows that about 90% of ships will still operate as planned.
Despite the many challenges, carriers are still cautiously trying to increase the general rate increase surcharge (GRI) in April.
However, due to increased competition, growing fleet capacity, and temporary capacity absorption problems caused by the Red Sea disruption, overcapacity remains a problem that needs to be solved, and rates may continue to face downward pressure.
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2025-04-10
