The Drewry WCI freight index, which tracks the dynamics of spot rates for container shipments, began to grow for two key destinations, linking Asia with the consumer markets in Europe and North America.
Over the last two weeks, the sub-indices for routes from China to Northern Europe and the US Atlantic Coast began to grow. The growth in the European direction was quite noticeable: the rates increased by $120 per FEU, or 8%, over two weeks.
The rates on transatlantic routes serving the European and North American trade, continue to fall dynamically, as well as on the routes from Asia to the US Pacific Coast ports, where the risks of dockers’ strikes are increasing.
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The traffic of commercial vessels through the Suez Canal continues to grow rapidly. During the first three months of this year, the number of transits has exceeded last year’s figure by 19%. In March, the traffic through the Suez Canal broke a new record: 2.2 thousand ships. This is 21.5% more than a year earlier.