Shanghai container futures trades suggest that Asia-Europe freight rates could fall further in 2025, after appearing to have peaked now, reports Container News.
Asia-Europe freight rates to drop further
On 5 August, the index points of the EC2408 (August contract) closed at 5,627, while the EC2410 (October contract) closed at 3,585 points, losing 3% and 9%, respectively, from 29 July. The EC2504 (April 2025 contract) stood at 1,961 points, while the EC2506 (June 2025 contract) stood at 1,955 points, down 5% and 6%, respectively, from 29 July.
On 2 August, the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) showed that the Shanghai-North Europe rate slipped 2% from the previous week to US$4,907/TEU, although this was substantially higher than the US$947/TEU a year ago.
Linerlytica’s report stated that the near-term contracts led the decline for most of last week before the longer dated contracts became caught on the US recession fears.
Containerised Freight Index Futures began trading last August through the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, a subsidiary of the Shanghai Futures Exchange. The paper trades are executed by shippers, forwarders and liner operators.
Trading volumes are shifting from EC2410 to the later contracts with EC2504 gaining the most market interest.
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Source: Container News
