- The Composite Index of the World Container Index compiled by Drewry for ocean freight rates rose by 6% in the week of 21 May 2026 compared with the previous seven days, reaching $2,712 per FEU. Year on year, the increase reached 19%, confirming that the market remains far from stabilisation.
- The Shanghai-Genoa route recorded the highest annual increase in the whole panel, at 44%, with a freight rate of $4,082 per FEU. The differential with Rotterdam, around $1,300, reflects vessel diversion costs and the geopolitical risk linked to transits through the Suez Canal and Red Sea area.
- On the Transpacific, Ocean Network Express has announced a seasonal surcharge of $2,000 per FEU from 1 June, while seven blank sailings are scheduled for the following week to reduce available capacity and support the new tariff levels.
The global container shipping market continues to accelerate. In the week of 21 May 2026, the Composite Index, based on all monitored routes and compiled weekly by Drewry as part of the World Container Index, rose by 6% compared with the previous seven days, reaching $2,712 per FEU, the 40-foot container. Year on year, the composite indicator increased by 19%, a sign that the current rebound is not a one-off development but reflects a structural tightening of supply and demand that is bringing forward its seasonal requirements.
The increase is being driven by the Asia-Europe corridor, where the index’s two main routes posted double-digit weekly gains. Shanghai-Rotterdam recorded the sharpest acceleration of the week, at 15%, with the freight rate reaching $2,773 per FEU. Year on year, the increase stands at 37%, confirming that demand pressure on Northern Europe is rapidly absorbing available capacity and justifying upward revisions to FAK rate levels by the main carriers.
The trend was even more pronounced on the Shanghai-Genoa route, which rose by 10% in a single week and reached $4,082 per FEU. The most significant figure, however, is the annual one: up 44%, the highest year-on-year increase in the whole panel. The freight rate for the Ligurian port has again exceeded the psychological threshold of $4,000 and has moved around $1,300 above the Rotterdam rate. This difference is not incidental: it reflects the persistent costs of vessel diversions and the geopolitical risk associated with transits through the Suez Canal and Red Sea area, where tensions in the Middle East continue to generate operational uncertainty and additional insurance costs.
Further supporting short-term expectations of higher rates, CMA CGM has announced new FAK levels from 1 June, with the stated aim of pushing rates on Asia-Mediterranean routes into a range of $5,500 to $5,700 per FEU and those on Asia-Europe routes to around $4,700 per FEU. The technical factor underpinning this tariff strategy is the management of vessel capacity: according to Drewry’s Container Capacity Insight, only three blank sailings are scheduled on the Asia-Europe axis in the week following the survey, indicating that carriers prefer to release cargo space into the market to capture demand rather than artificially restrict it.
The picture is different on the Transpacific, where carriers are adopting the opposite tactic. Routes to the US West Coast and East Coast showed more limited weekly increases, respectively up 1% for Shanghai-Los Angeles to $3,385 per FEU and up 2% for Shanghai-New York to $4,317 per FEU, but the technical context is that of a market preparing for a tariff squeeze. Drewry reports seven blank sailings scheduled on the transpacific route in the following week, a restrictive management of supply aimed at reducing available cargo space and creating the conditions for the seasonal surcharges announced for June.
In this context, the most significant move on the transpacific corridor is Ocean Network Express’s announcement of a seasonal surcharge of $2,000 per FEU on Transpacific Eastbound services, effective from 1 June. It is a strong signal: it confirms that carriers believe the market is ready to absorb substantial increases and that seasonality, already unusual in its timing compared with previous years, is generating an early rush for cargo space.
The position of the Shanghai-New York route is also notable. Although it retains the highest absolute freight rate in the whole panel, it is the only route to record a negative year-on-year figure, at minus 5%. This apparent contradiction can be explained as a natural normalisation from the exceptional peaks recorded in 2025, when draft restrictions in the Panama Canal had artificially inflated rates to the US East Coast.
The transatlantic corridor offers a more solid picture. Rotterdam-New York recorded a weekly increase of 3% and an annual rise of 26%, reaching $2,453 per FEU, supported by stable demand from Northern Europe to the US East Coast. In the opposite direction, New York-Rotterdam was the only negative item of the week in the entire Drewry panel, with a 3% fall that brought the freight rate to $1,002 per FEU, while still remaining 21% above May 2025 levels. On the return leg of the Asia-Europe axis, Rotterdam-Shanghai recorded a marginal weekly change, up 1%, with the freight rate at $650 per FEU, but the 42% year-on-year increase stands out, highlighting how the structural cost of repositioning empty containers and of European exports to Asia has risen steadily compared with the previous year.
At the macro level, east-west markets are rapidly consolidating around a peak-season pattern that is highly atypical compared with benchmark years. Carriers are combining FAK increases, the introduction of seasonal surcharges and tactical management of vessel capacity to push freight rates higher. Added to this is a cost variable that is difficult to compress in the short term: bunker costs remain high and the main carriers continue to apply Emergency Fuel Surcharge mechanisms on all major trade lanes, exerting further and constant upward pressure on base freight rates.
Mara Gambetta
