Factors such as global inflation, aggressive interest rate hikes in the United States, and the Russian-Ukrainian war continued to impact the purchasing power of consumers in Europe and the United States, and container shipping rates fell for 15 consecutive weeks.

According to the data released by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on September 23, the latest Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) fell 240.61 points to 2072.04 points, a weekly decline of 10.40%, and fell for 15 consecutive weeks, down from a historical high of 5109 points at the beginning of the year Nearly 60%, most of the main routes fell by more than 10%, and the US West Line fell below $3,000.

Last week, the freight rate per FEU on the US West Line fell by US$366 to US$2,684, a drop of 12%, more than two-thirds from the historical high of US$7,900 at the beginning of the year; the freight rate per FEU on the US East Line fell by US$638 to US$6,538 , fell below the $7,000 level, with a weekly decline of 8.9%, a cumulative decline of 45% from the high point at the beginning of the year,

At the same time, due to the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the freight rates of the European line and the Mediterranean line are also stagnant. Last week, the freight rate per TEU on the European line fell by US$382 to US$3,163, a decrease of 10.78%, and it was also revised down by nearly 60% from the historical high at the beginning of the year; the freight rate per TEU on the Mediterranean line fell by US$528 to US$3,249, a decrease of 13.98%.

The freight rate of South America Line (Santos) per TEU fell by $863 to $5,479, or 13.61%. The freight rate per TEU of the Southeast Asia Line (Singapore) was US$386, down US$17 or 4.22% for the week.

It is understood that the recent drop in container freight rates is mainly due to the weakening of demand for space due to the epidemic, China's port closures, inflation, and terminal destocking. However, under the condition of stable supply, there is an oversupply of space. Weakening prices also put pressure on long-term freight rates.

People in the industry are worried that the U.S. decision to raise interest rates to curb inflation has triggered many central banks to follow suit, which may lead to an economic recession, which will have a negative impact on the global container shipping market. Container ships mainly carry consumer goods for people's livelihood. The inflation caused by energy and food in this round has weakened the purchasing power of consumers, and the demand for container transportation has also decreased. In addition, consumers will spend more on food and fuel in non-container transportation, which is relatively Squeeze out the consumption of traditional container-transported commodities such as clothing, furniture, and electronic products.

At present, inflation in the United States is seriously crowding out commodity consumption, and Europe and the influence of the Russian-Ukrainian war are the reasons for the weak freight rates on the European and American lines. Next, China's November long holiday shipments will also decrease. The three major shipping alliances will continue to control cabins and reduce classes in October to stabilize freight rates. It is said that some alliances have reduced flights on the southwest coast of the United States by about half.

Despite this, industry analysts believe that with the U.S. interest rate hike, most Asian currencies have fallen sharply, and with the deep decline in freight rates, it is conducive to accelerating the improvement of inflation in the United States, and is also conducive to winning export orders. The cargo volume will see growth in the third week of the month, and the freight rate is expected to stop falling or even rise.

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