The Drewry World Container Index, published on 5 February 2026, records a weekly drop of 7% in the composite index for average spot container freight rates, falling to $1,959 per 40-foot container. This is the fourth consecutive decline, consolidating the corrective phase in the spot market. On a year-on-year basis, the index is down 40%, signalling a sharp downsizing compared with levels seen in the same period of 2025.
Routes between China and Europe remain among the most exposed to downward pressure. The Shanghai–Rotterdam connection posts the largest weekly contraction, down 9% to $2,164, a level 31% lower than a year earlier. A similar pattern is seen on the Shanghai–Genoa route, where the freight rate falls by 7% to $3,048, representing a year-on-year reduction of 28%. Drewry attributes this trend to the lack of a demand surge ahead of the Lunar New Year and to the scheduling of numerous blank sailings in the coming weeks to manage excess capacity.
Weakness is even more pronounced on transpacific corridors. On the Shanghai–Los Angeles route, the freight rate drops by 8% in a week, falling to $2,239, with a year-on-year decline of 53%. The Shanghai–New York route records a weekly decrease of 5% to $2,819 and shows the steepest annual fall, at 55%. According to Drewry, the absence of the traditional pre-holiday volume increase and aggressive capacity management, with many sailings cancelled, have not been sufficient to support rates.
The picture is more nuanced on the transatlantic front. The Rotterdam–New York route remains stable week on week, unchanged at $1,598, although it still shows a 35% year-on-year decline. Moving in the opposite direction, the New York–Rotterdam connection, a typical backhaul route, posts a weekly fall of 4% to $946 but stands out as the only route in the Drewry basket to record double-digit annual growth, at 14%.
Some signs of resilience also emerge on backhaul routes from Europe and the United States to Asia. Rotterdam–Shanghai rises by 2% to $516, while Los Angeles–Shanghai increases by 1% to $725. These gains are limited, however, and do not alter the overall picture of a market characterised by weak demand and ample vessel capacity.
According to Drewry, recent trends suggest that pressure on spot freight rates could persist in the short term as the Asian production slowdown approaches. Supply-reduction strategies through service cancellations have so far proved insufficient to reverse the trend, confirming a market rebalancing phase affecting the entire container shipping sector.
