The decline in Asia-US container spot rates does not appear to be slowing down ahead of the traditional annual contract rate negotiation season on the trans-Pacific route.

According to industry analysts, although the current global container prosperity index has taken a sharp turn for the worse, from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year, major shipping companies around the world have begun to reduce shifts, slow down and increase the speed of ships withdrawing from the market. The current market supply is actually Not much, and the continuous decline in freight rates is mainly due to the off-season effect that has not yet started mass shipments after the year.

Ocean shipping lines have failed to stem falling rates through capacity management blank voyage plans, putting trans-Pacific line carriers at risk of deep cuts in new contract tenders that began in May.

The latest Baltic Freight Index (FBX) freight rate from Asia to West America fell again by 6% to $1,164/FEU, while the average freight rate of FBX in the same period last year was $15,485/FEU. This price change clearly reminds people that the U.S. How badly and how fast the online market collapsed.

At the same time, the Asia-US East trade route, which has performed relatively strongly so far, is narrowing its premium spread advantage over US West ports. For example, Drewry's World Container Index WCI shows that the US East freight rate It fell again this week by 4% to $2881/FEU.

In addition, the break-even point for shipping lines on the Asia-US East route is significantly higher than that of the US-West route, because longer transit times consume more fuel, and the high cost of the Panama/Suez Canal toll must take into account the voyage calculating.

In other regions, such as Asia-Europe routes, shipping lines are also seeing their previously healthy profit margins disappear with each round-trip voyage.

According to Xeneta's XSI index, the spot freight rate on the Asia-Europe route was as low as US$1,548/FEU last week, down 5% from the previous week and 13% in the month, while the freight rate 12 months ago was about US$14,500.

However, according to foreign media reports, there are a large number of quotations from Chinese freight forwarders in the Nordic market, offering much lower FAK rates, valid until the end of March, and applicable to all major shipping lines. One Felixstowe NVOCC said it was receiving lower offers "almost every day".

He added: "I can even choose the carrier based on the best transit time, and there are no surcharges at UK ports. In fact, some shipping lines will give an extra free period, and if it takes longer, the shipping company will waive it." Any demurrage on the case.” He said: “I think the carriers are doing the best they can.”

Despite stronger market fundamentals, spot freight rates from Asia to the Mediterranean are also falling, with Drewry WCI falling another 2% this week to $2,540/FEU.

In addition, the latest export container freight index (SCFI) of the Shanghai Airlines Exchange fell 27.98 points to 946.68 points (the whole route fell), a weekly drop of 2.87%, which has fallen for seven consecutive weeks, and the decline has expanded. However, optimists in the industry pointed out that the freight rate has fallen and there is no reason to fall. After the Spring Festival, the economies of China and the United States are recovering, and the cargo volume is already recovering. It is expected that the freight rate will rebound in March.

The abnormal performance of the container spot market is still the transatlantic trade route. In the face of the large investment in capacity and the resulting decline in the loading rate of the route from North Europe to the East of the United States, the index shows significant resilience.

This week, the FBX, XSI and WCI indexes of the route from North Europe to the US East were basically flat, with freight rates of $4,992, $5,253 and $5,640 per 40-foot container, respectively.

Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, said: “Unlike the transpacific and Asia-Europe tradelanes, the decline in utilization has so far not had an impact on freight rates, suggesting that there must be other mechanisms at play in determining this particular tradelane play a role in the level of tariffs.”