Global trade in free fall: container freight rates from Asia to Northern Europe drop by 60% in three weeks |
According to Reuters, the price of container freight from Asia to Northern Europe fell another 26.7% last week to US$469 per TEU. The freight rate of this world's busiest route has fallen for three consecutive weeks, with a cumulative drop of nearly 60% in the three weeks.
Global container freight prices are falling. Last week, freight rates from Asia to the Mediterranean fell by 32.1%, and freight rates from Asia to the West Coast and East Coast of the United States fell by 7.9% and 9.9%, respectively. It is generally believed that shipping companies will be profitable only if the freight rate is between US$800-1000.
Financial blogger Zero Hedge said that if the container freight rate rebounds and falls at the current rate, not only will large shipping companies close their routes, but investors will also worry that the global economy may enter a recession again.
There are early signs of a drop in container freight prices. In March, the global container freight rate dropped the most since 2011. 
In order not to lose money, Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipping company, plans to increase the freight rate from Asia to Northern Europe by US$1,000, effective September 1. Other major container shipping companies have similar plans. According to previous articles on Wall Street, in the context of the global economic downturn, shipping companies have cancelled some voyages to prevent the spread of losses. The G6 alliance consisting of Singapore APL, South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine, Japanese Merchant Marine Mitsui, Nippon Yuk Line, German Hapag-Lloyd and Hong Kong Orient Overseas said this week that it will cancel 12 round-trip voyages between Asia and Europe from September, which accounts for One-sixth of the normal shipping volume of the alliance within 5 weeks. Before, when container freight prices fell, the Baltic Dry Bulk Index was still rising unexpectedly, and once exceeded 1,100 points. But now the situation has changed, and the index has fallen below 1,000 points. Financial blog Zero Hedge stated that the Baltic Dry Index has actually become a lagging indicator relative to actual demand. 来源：华尔街见闻 |
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