Asia-US West Coast SCFI Rate Jumps 7.2 Percent

The average rate for spot rate for container shipping from Asia to the U.S. West Coast jumped 7.2 percent in the first week of 2012, hitting the highest price since May and seeing the sharpest increase since June.

The 2.9 percent increase to $975 on the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s overall SCFI comes as importers hurry to book space in advance of the Chinese manufacturing slowdown before the early Lunar Year on Jan. 23.

The $121 increase in the Asia-U.S. West Coast trade lane to $1,813 per container was the largest since the week ending June 11, when the spot rate rose $153. The spot rate for container shipments on the rate-depressed lane is down 36 percent from the 2010 high, when the index hit $2,833 in the week ending June 24.

The rate index, which measures average spot rates ocean forwarders get from carriers out of Shanghai, rose 5.6 percent to $754 for shipments to the Mediterranean. The measure for spot rates to Europe rose 4.1 percent to $730, a slowdown from the last week in 2011, and rates to the U.S. East Coast rose 1.7 percent to $2,942.

-- Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @Szakonyi_JOC