The Cost of Shipping a Container from China to Northern Europe Has Fallen by 20%

In the first half of April 2022, the World Container Index (WCI) assessed by Drewry has decreased to 8 thousand US dollars per FEU, which is close to the level of the end of June 2021.

Spot rates have been dropping on all major East-West trade routes, except for the Mediterranean routes. By comparison, the cost of shipping a 40ft container from China to northern Europe and west coast of North America has fallen by 20% in six weeks after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict; spot rates for the southern Europe ports have increased by only 4%.

The WCI sub-index for the Shanghai-Genoa conditional route is 12.3 thousand US dollars per FEU this week, which is 14% higher than the Shanghai-Rotterdam sub-index (10.8 thousand US dollars per FEU).