European freight rates plummeted! All routes are falling

Sunny Worldwide LogisticsIt is a logistics company with more than 20 years of transportation experience, focusing on markets such as Europe, America, Canada, Australia, Southeast Asia, etc., and is more than the owner of the cargo owner.

The latest Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) fell 148.8 points, a drop of 7.27%, and has fallen below the 2,000-point mark, falling to 1,896.65 points, and has fallen for four consecutive weeks.All four major ocean-going routes declined, among which the European line continued to enter the off-season, and the cargo volume decreased, with a particularly significant decline of 15.93%. The declines on the Eastern and Western fronts also exceeded 4%.

Freight forwarding industry insiders pointed out that shipping companies' stockpiling of goods before the New Year and empty shifts made the US line freight rates relatively stable. However, due to the large ships in the European line and the cargo volume after the year, the price of the European line is expected to continue to fall in the second half of the month.

Shipping industry insiders further explained that since the Spring Festival holiday has just ended and the overall shipment situation is not obvious yet, the trend of freight prices still needs to wait for the further clarity of the quotation next week. At the same time, the US tariff policy will have some impact on the market. The main source of shipments is China. The US imposes 10% tariff to confirm, and continue to observe the future impact.

However, it is worth noting that as of now, the market performance of the integrated transportation industry in the first quarter of 2025 is more than expected, and the results of long-term freight rates from the Far East to the United States and the United States are one higher than last year's The Far East 40-foot cabinet starts at ,500 and the Far East 3,500, while the negotiations in the same period last year were only ,200 to ,500.

The Drury World Container Index (WCI) shows that freight rates for the Shanghai-Los Angeles and Shanghai-New York routes both fell 1% this week from last week, down to ,717 and ,212 per 40 feet, respectively. However, Loadstar received active quotes from Chinese freight forwarders far below this official index level. Specifically, there are quotes that the freight rate from Shanghai to Los Angeles and Oakland will be only US,300/FEU next week, while the freight rate from Shanghai and Ningbo to the eastern United States will be only US,600/FEU.

A freight forwarding executive explained: "During the period after the Spring Festival to the end of February, spot prices in Asia will be extremely attractive, which is entirely determined by the supply and demand relationship in the market." But she also pointed out that As shippers continue to prioritize ensuring capacity for large quantities of goods, negotiations on long-term freight remain at "quite high levels".

In order to prevent further declines in freight rates, the main strategy for shipping companies is to reduce capacity. Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sand recently issued a warning that the number of canceled flights could increase significantly. According to Xeneta, capacity cancellations on the Far East-Mediterranean route will continue to grow, with the route's blank flight capacity reaching 38,900 TEU in the week ending February 24, an increase of 318% from current levels. Similarly, in the Far Northeast Europe, as of February 24, blank voyages will equal capacity of about 75,700 TEU, an increase of 449%.

"When freight rates plummet, carriers won't sit idly by. They will do their best to keep freight stable and in recent years they have become smarter in capacity management," Peter Sand said. "Besides that," he noted. , the new services launched by the Shipping Alliance will also indirectly limit capacity to new routes."

SCFI freight:

• The freight rate from Shanghai to Europe is US,805/TEU, down US2, down 15.92% weekly;

• The freight rate from Shanghai to Mediterranean was ,036/TEU, down 1, down 5.33% on the weekly basis;

• The freight rate from Shanghai to the West is ,932/FEU, down 4, down 4.47% on the weekly basis;

• The freight rate from Shanghai to the East United States is ,490/FEU, down 6, down 4.95% weekly;

• Persian Gulf routes freight rates per case of US,191, down US, down 1.6% on weekly basis;

• South American routes (Santos) freight rate per box was 353863, down 8, down 11.1% weekly;

• Southeast Asian routes (Singapore) freight rates per case were 4, down , down 10.62% on the weekly basis.

In terms of near-ocean lines, the Far East to Kansai and Kanto in Japan remained flat, at US5 and US8; the Far East to Southeast Asia is US4 per TEU, down US, a drop of 10.63%; the Far East to South Korea is US, at US8, a drop of 0.72 %.