Drewry World Container Index

Is Wall Street warming back up to containership line Zim?

For nearly two years, capital markets have punished Zim, the Israeli containership line whose fleet is the 10th-largest on the ocean. Zim’s model, which involves operating a subscale, highly chartered fleet of smaller vessels almost wholly exposed to the spot market, took a beating when collapsing spot rates collided with its high COVID-era lease expenses. The stock peaked at $84.50 per share on March 18, 2022, and took a series of nosedives before finally bottoming at $6.59 on Nov. 28, 2023.

Bu...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/is-wall-street-warming-back-up-to-containership-line-zim

Asia-US spot rates top contract rates for first time since 2022

Shipping lines have been in the red in the trans-Pacific trades for months. They may have just inched back into the black again, courtesy of the rise in spot rates over the past five weeks.

Annual trans-Pacific contract rates reset to sharply lower levels in May. Even so, multiple ocean carrier execs insisted on conference calls that they did not sign annual contracts at levels that locked in a year’s worth of losses.

The problem for carriers in recent months: A portion of their trans-Pacific...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trans-pacific-spot-shipping-rates-rise-above-contract-rates

Transatlantic rates tumble even as transpacific rates rumble with WCI officially below all post-pandemic quotes

A 25% tumble in the transatlantic rates, Rotterdam to Shanghai at US$2,003, awarded the Drewry World Container Index with its lowest ever level since 15 November 2019 and with that officially at its lowest quote in the post-pandemic era.

The transatlantic rates which have shaved off nearly 39% in a mere fortnight, about US$1,223, have now eroded 73% since their peak in November 2022, and are currently lingering at levels last seen around Christmas in 2020.

The Drewry World Container Index (WCI)...

https://container-news.com/transatlantic-rates-tumble-even-as-transpacific-rates-rumble-with-wci-officially-below-all-post-pandemic-quotes/

Container shipping under pressure as peak season hopes dim

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One of the earlier scenarios for container shipping’s 2023 peak season went like this: Importers...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-shipping-under-pressure-as-peak-season-hopes-dim

Container shipping market yet to bottom as spot rates keep slipping

chart showing container shipping spot rates

Xeneta CEO Patrik Berglund said in late November that if spot rates had not stabilized and started to rise again by the first and second quarters of this year, “carriers have played this market really badly.”

By that definition, ocean carriers have played this market really badly.

Spot indexes are not plummeting like they were in the second half of 2022, but they’re still inching downward week after week. The market bottom is proving elusive as transport capacity continues to exceed demand.

The...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-shipping-market-yet-to-bottom-as-spot-rates-keep-slipping

Lag effect: Why liner profits stay high much longer than spot rates

chart showing spot container shipping rates

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Spot container shipping rates in many trades have already collapsed back to pre-COVID levels. But...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/lag-effect-why-container-line-profits-stay-high-longer-than-spot-rates

Container shipping’s ‘big unwind’: Spot rates near pre-COVID levels

chart of container shipping spot rates

The billion-dollar question for container shipping markets at the beginning of 2022 was: “Party on or the big unwind?”

It turned out to be the big unwind. As this year comes to a close, the party is pretty much over. Most of the COVID-era market gains are gone. The rest are in jeopardy in 2023.  

Asia-West Coast rates back to normal

The Freightos Baltic Daily Index (FBX) assessed China-West Coast rates at $1,378 per forty-foot equivalent unit on Monday. The index has been relatively unchanged...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-shippings-big-unwind-spot-rates-near-pre-covid-levels

Container shipping rates still sinking, no sign yet of market floor

chart of shipping rates

So much for the theory that container lines are a nefarious cartel that can control freight pricing — spot rates are still falling over a year after they peaked.

“This cliff that rates have fallen from shows there is more competition in the market than a lot of people had feared,” said Patrik Berglund, CEO of rate-tracking company Xeneta, in a recent interview with American Shipper.

The pace of spot-rate declines did slow in some trade lanes in October versus August and September. However, rate...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-shipping-rates-still-sinking-no-new-normal-yet

Here’s how container shipping lines can escape a crash in 2023

photo of a market crash, as feared will happen to container shipping lines

Shipping rates are collapsing. A massive wave of new vessels will hit the water next year. Consumer demand will be battered by a global recession. Ergo, the ocean carrier industry is doomed to crash. This is an increasingly popular theory — but it’s not what Drewry, one of the industry’s leading consultancies, predicts.

Drewry’s base case for 2023 is that the ocean carrier sector will post earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $100 billion. That’s down 64% from a projected 2022 EBIT of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/heres-how-container-shipping-lines-can-escape-a-crash-in-2023

Container shipping rates still falling: What will be the new normal?

photo of container ship; rates are normalizing but still very high

Which of these two is happier? Someone who wins $3 million in the lottery then blows $2 million in Vegas, or someone who wins $1 million in the lottery and puts it in the bank?

Containerized cargo shippers face the reverse emotional scenario. Who’s more content? A shipper who’s used to paying $1,500 per forty-foot equivalent unit and suddenly sees rates quintuple to $7,500? Or one who paid $1,500 per FEU for years, suddenly got slammed with crippling rates of $20,000 per FEU including premium...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-shipping-rates-still-falling-what-will-be-the-new-normal

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