Sea freight rates due to rise in November

FREIGHT rates have continued to decline on all the major trades this week as container lines look to November and the latest round of recommended general rate increases.

Carriers pushing for rises of up to nearly $1,000 per teu on the Asia-Europe trade are hoping to repeat last year’s successful GRIs when rates jumped some 123% from $670 to $1,423.

A rise in box prices cannot come soon enough.

The latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index shows that on Asia-Europe routes, prices have slipped to yet another yearly low, by $8, or 1.1%, to $697.

That is the index’s lowest level since October 2013