Rates halve in Q3 amid fears of new recession
The container shipping market may remain bleak for the rest of the year, after seeing shipping rates halved in the third quarter, an expert warned
Sunny Ho, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Shippers’ Council, said part of the reason rates had crashed was that western buyers were tightening their purse strings amid growing fears of global recession.
Ho said: “We can’t see any major factors that can help stimulate US economic recovery – and Europe’s situation is even worse.
“The emerging markets have grown faster than the European and US markets, but they are unable to make up for the weak demand in traditional markets of Europe and the US.”
The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SFCI) for European routes tumbled 56% to an average of $807.86 per teu in Q3 from $1,842.67 in the same period last year.
Average container shipping rates from Shanghai to the US west coast fell 40% year on year to $1,639.93.
The SFCI serves as a barometer for global trade as it tracks the rates of shipping companies that mainly moves manufactured goods such as shoes, clothes and furniture from the world’s factory of China to consumers in western countries.
Shares of Hong Kong-listed container shipping firms have lost more than half of their market value so far this year, underperforming a 27% drop in the blue chip Hang Seng Index .
Source: IFW
