China-Europe prices continue to stabilize after crashing through September when several large carriers cut their FAK rates.
Drop in prices
Prices had dropped by $715 over four weeks, from $2,201 on 9 September to $1,486 on 7 October.
Prices on both the China-North Europe and China- Mediterranean lanes are currently less than 70% of their 2018 peaks.
| From China/East Asia | To North Europe | To Mediterranean |
| Week of peak price 2018 | 09/09/2018 | 6/24/2018 |
| Peak price | $2,201 | $2,164 |
| Week ending 10/21/2018 | $1,441 | $1,492 |
| Drop from peak | 65% | 69% |
This week’s report
| Week 42 | Week 41 | Last year* | |
| Global | $1,583 | -1% | 38% |
| China – US West Coast | $2,487 | 7% | 90% |
| China – US East Coast | $3,343 | -3% | 89% |
| China – North Europe | $1,441 | -3% | 9% |
| North Europe – US East Coast | $1,826 | 0% | 32% |
| * Compared to the corresponding week in 2017 | |||
China-Europe prices continue to stabilize after crashing through September when several large carriers cut their FAK rates.
Increase in postal fee
Last week, a new influence on the transpacific ocean and air freight prices crystallized when President Trump instructed the US Postal Service to levy higher fees on overseas packages. Many of the same importers getting hit by the January 1 trade tariff increase will soon be more competitive with direct sales from offshore e-commerce marketplaces.
The biggest influence on transpacific ocean freight prices, last week, though, was the mid-month mid-month GRI (for China-West Coast only) which increased prices by 7%. Further GRIs have been announced for November 1 and 15.
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Source: The Baltic Briefing
