Carriers may find it difficult to sustain huge rate hikes between Asia and Northern Europe

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Large-scale GRI initiatives for ocean carriers in Asia and Northern Europe will come into effect next week – but there are already signs that only a few will stick.

In fact, a poll loadstar Shipper contacts and freight forwarders reveal that the major carriers are likely to achieve about 50% FAK rate increases on August 1. But the carriers themselves then offer discounts on GRIs from the second half of the month.

Meanwhile, the spot price component of Xeneta’s containers from Asia to Northern Europe is down another 1.5% this week, averaging $1,188 per 40 feet, while some “market” prices have slipped below $1,000 again.

Almost all major lines followed Maersk’s July 3 GRI guidelines for a minimum 40ft FAK rate of $1,900, effective August 1 from Asia to major Northern European hubs.

However, forwarding contacts doubt they can deliver the full lot, as some shippers have decided to push back loading dates, gambling that prices will drop again.

In fact, unsolicited email quote to loadstar This week, from a Chinese freight forwarder, GRIs reversed, it moved $1,350 per 40 feet from major ports in China to the Le Havre-Hamburg combo, valid August 1-14, with immediate shipping available “across all major lines.”

“Better rate available for subsequent shipments,” the email added.

With peak-season demand on the trade lane “declining”, and deliveries of more than 1.2 million TEUs of new building load to begin before the end of the year, including several 24,000 TEUs that will be deployed on the route, carriers in Asia and Northern Europe will need to be Prudent management of its capabilities to avoid further price collapse.

Elsewhere, on Asian-Mediterranean trade, prices have been flat this week, with Drewry’s WCI reading settling at $1,893 per 40 feet.

Similar to Northern Europe, carriers in the Asia-Mediterranean are seeking a huge FAK hike in August, which could be canceled out by a significant increase in capacity on the route, including the new HMM China-India-Mediterranean loop, which begins next month.

In contrast to Asia and Europe, trade across the Pacific is showing more signs of recovery, with another jump in spot rates from Asia to the US this week. The Freightos Baltic Container Index (FBX) posted an increase of $161 per 40 feet, or 12%, this week for spot movements from Asia to the US West Coast, bringing the average price to $1,526 per 40 feet.

For the US East Coast, FBX posted a more modest increase of 3%, with the West Coast increase primarily attributed to industrial work in Canada’s West Coast ports pushing cargo through US West Coast ports.

Over the Atlantic, the erosion of the spot price continued, with the WCI average price for Northern Europe to the US East Coast from Drewry down 3% over the week, to $1,590 per 40ft, which is a 77% decline year-on-year. .