Container rates climb after weeks of decline

The price of container freight from Shanghai to several destinations around the world rose last week.

This is shown by the latest figures from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), published by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

The index rose by 6.5% to 1333.11 last week. The increase follows six weeks of continuous decline. There were no figures from the SCFI index last week due to the Chinese New Year celebrations.

On Thursday, data from the World Container Index (WCI), compiled by consultancy Drewry on Thursday and applicable to a 40-foot container, showed a 1.1% drop from the previous week.

The SCFI index peaked in early January 2022 at 5109.60, while the most recent significant low was 931.89 in the week leading up to October 27, 2023.