Trans-Pacific Rates Stay Firm as Chinese Factories Close

Average spot freight rates on the eastbound trans-Pacific trade held firm for the third week in a row even as Chinese factories closed for Lunar New Year celebrations.

Drewry's trans-Pacific spot rate benchmark remained at $1,832 per 40-foot equivalent unit, the same as in the last two weeks. The Drewry benchmark jumped 27.6 percent in the first week of January as the carrier members of the Trans-Pacific Stabilization Agreement put the TSA’s suggested $400 per FEU increase into effect.

This week’s average spot rate is 12 percent lower than the $2,081 per FEU benchmark in the same week last year, but is holding at a level that is 27.6 percent higher than the 2011 lows of $1,436 per FEU that it reached in the last five weeks of the year.

-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @petertleach.