Source: Market average rates for 40‘ containers according to www.xeneta.com
Trade Analysis: Transpacific
Situation
Market volumes have risen by 4% since July to 1.2 million TEUs per month. This is still lower than last year’s 1.45 million per month. East Coast volumes are on the rise due to growing retail demand for consumer goods for the upcoming holiday season. Additionally, a decline in capacity, partly due to lower water levels in the Panama Canal, has influenced this trend. Carriers will continue their blank sailings to manage rates and remain profitable.
Obstacles
Labor strikes have affected Canadian ports and the disputes have not yet been officially resolved and negotiations are ongoing.
Outlook/Solutions
The overall volumes seem to go down and even the pre-Golden Week volume rush appeared to have a moderate impact. The rates to the US West Coast will stay the same due to the preferred routing to IPI’s, in comparison via Canada. The volumes via Canada and the US East Coast are declining and we expect that the market will take a correction. We also expect the situation to continue even after the “Golden Week”, thus not posing any challenge for capacity or rising rates.