Drewry’s world container index dips below $2,000 per FEU

Drewry, an independent maritime research consultancy has recently stated that the world container index dipped below the $2000 per feu mark for the first time since July 2020. The composite global spot index is presently at $1,997.22 per feu, but it bounced back in Sep 2021 to $10,300 per feu.

Xeneta, a freight rate benchmarking platform’s CEO Patrik Barglund has commented that global demand has fallen, congestion is eased and equipment is available and the geopolitical situation is least now, still, the average long-term contact rates dropped by 13.3% in January 2023. To get the right size of the market, there needs to be a major supply response as the container freight rates have fallen drastically over the last six months and are at an all-time low across many trade lanes.

As per the leading freight magazine, liner shipping will make just 5% of 2022’s profits and up to 25% of the massive container order book will likely be deferred.

Major liners such as Maersk, Ocean Network Express to Hapag Lloyd are struggling for containers to get their full ship load and have announced a slide in their profits.