Container spot rates from Asia to the U.S. west coast spiked last week, ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday on February 1.
Drewry’s WCI U.S. west coast component put on 5%, to $11,197 per 40ft, while the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), which includes an element of premium fees, gained 3.5%, to $15,139.
For the U.S. east coast, there were mixed messages from the spot indices, with the WCI up 2% on the week, to $13,987 per 40ft, in contrast to the FBX reading, which declined 2.5%, to $17,023.
In a customer advisory, Maersk said there could be enough labour available to keep production ticking over during the CNY holiday and thus would not be reducing services in the immediate post-CNY period.
Read more in an article from gCaptain.