Container Rates Edge Lower Ahead of Golden Week as Suez Traffic Returns

The Drewry World Container Index edged lower this week as falling Asia-Europe rates outweighed firmer pricing on the Transpacific, with carriers preparing another round of blank sailings ahead of China’s Golden Week holiday.

The Drewry World Container Index fell 1% to $4,468 per 40-foot container as of Thursday, reversing last week’s modest increase.

The decline was concentrated on Asia-Europe routes, where the return of more containership traffic through the Suez Canal is beginning to add effective capacity.

Shanghai-to-Genoa rates fell 5% to $3,835 per 40-foot container, while Shanghai-to-Rotterdam dropped 4% to $3,485.

Drewry said Suez Canal containership transits increased to 48 in Week 38 from 41 a week earlier. While carriers are also cutting scheduled capacity — with seven Asia-Europe blank sailings announced for next week, up from three this week — Drewry expects the additional capacity created by returning Suez transits to outweigh those reductions.

The consultancy expects Asia-Europe rates to continue falling next week.

The Transpacific market was firmer. Shanghai-to-Los Angeles rates rose 2% to $7,838 per 40-foot container, while Shanghai-to-New York held roughly steady at $10,373.

Carriers are stepping up capacity management ahead of Golden Week, with 15 Transpacific blank sailings announced for next week compared with nine this week, according to Drewry’s Container Capacity Insight.

Even with those reductions, Drewry expects Transpacific rates to decline next week as the market moves into the Golden Week holiday period.

The latest moves underline an increasingly uneven container market. Carriers continue to use blank sailings to manage capacity, while recovering Suez traffic is gradually changing the supply picture on Asia-Europe routes.

Security remains a major uncertainty. Red Sea risks continue to influence carrier routing decisions even as Suez traffic increases, while capacity through the Panama Canal remains constrained. Labor disruptions in Germany and low water levels on the Rhine are also complicating European supply chains.

Against that backdrop, Drewry expects overall East-West freight rates to decline again next week as Golden Week approaches and additional effective capacity returns to the market.

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