According to the latest report released by Linerlitica today (December 12th), Asia Europe freight rates may continue to rise throughout December due to shippers rushing out goods before Christmas.On December 8th, the Shanghai Container Freight Index showed that the Asia Nordic freight rate increased by 9% to $925/TEU, while the Asia Mediterranean freight rate increased by 10% to $1387/TEU, marking the second consecutive week of increase.At the same time, the return voyage of the Asia Europe route and the diversion of the Panama Canal are alleviating the impact of this year’s record high delivery of 2.2 million TEUs of new ships.Sea freightThe Asia US East Coast route fell slightly by $5 to $2441/FEU, while the Asia US West Coast route only rose by $23 to $1669/FEU, despite transit quotas through the Panama Canal forcing some Asia US East Coast routes to switch to Suez or bypass Cape of Good Hope.Linerlytica said, “Due to the failure to obtain priority channels, the Alliance Shipping Company is paying a heavy price and being forced to transfer all three Panama full water services to avoid prolonged delays on the canal. Although the draft limits the full container throughput of the Panama channel, the capacity on the east coast is still sufficient to meet market demand.”
