Following a month of growth, the global index of spot container shipping rates, the World Container Index published by Drewry on 19 June, shows a 7 percent decline. However, this is not a uniform trend; on the contrary, significant divergences emerge depending on the route. The two extremes are a sharp weekly increase of 12 percent between Shanghai and Rotterdam, pushing the rate per feu above three thousand dollars (3,710 dollars), and a 20 percent collapse between the Chinese port and Los Angeles, bringing the value back below 5,000 dollars per feu (4,720 dollars). On the return legs, rates remain stable, with a 1 percent increase from Rotterdam to Shanghai and just one dollar more between Los Angeles and Shanghai.
Remaining in the Pacific, the route between Shanghai and New York also records a double-digit drop of 10 percent, bringing the average spot rate below 7,000 dollars (6,584 dollars). In contrast to Rotterdam, the port of Genoa shows a slight increase of one percent in the rate for shipments arriving from Shanghai, raising the figure to 4,075 dollars. The trend in the Atlantic remains fairly stable, with the highest rate—between Rotterdam and New York—unchanged at 1,982 dollars per feu, while the lowest, on the return leg, rises by 2 percent to 833 dollars.
Drewry’s Container Forecaster anticipates that the balance between supply and demand will weaken again in the second half of 2025, leading to a fall in spot rates. However, volatility and the timing of tariff changes will depend on the outcome of legal appeals against Trump-era tariffs and on capacity changes linked to the implementation of US sanctions on Chinese vessels, the effects of which remain uncertain. The consequences of the conflict between Israel and Iran also remain a significant unknown.
