Freight Rates Falling

Although shipping lines have been attempting to increase freight rates from Asia to Europe from 1 August, it seems that their attempts have failed.  The Shanghai Shipping Exchange has a panel of  Chinese freight forwarders, who reported that the average all-in freight rate quoted by carriers for spot business from Shanghai to Northern European main berth ports on August 10 fell by US$98 per TEU compared to the week before.

Exports from Asia to Europe still do not show much sign of  improvement. This is a problem to shipping lines, as they increased vessel capacity to Northern Europe by 11% between 1 April and 1 July in anticipation of improvements.