Asia to Europe container rates continue to slide

ALL-IN Asia to Europe spot rates have decreased for eight consecutive weeks, according to the International Freighting Weekly (IFW) box index, and the space index is also down.

The IFW's rate survey shows that the average all-in spot rate on services from China to Northern Europe dropped to US$1,818 per TEU for the week ending April 23, down from $1,845 the previous week.

At the same time the IFW space index for the trade fell to 1.5 on a scale of one to four (with one indicating space is easily available and four indicating that it is extremely tight), down from 2.2 the week before.

The report added that rates were at their highest this year during the week ending March 5, when they reached $2,164 per TEU.

(Source: www.schednet.com)