LOW FUEL PRICE HINDERS CARRIERS' ATTEMPTS TO HIKE RATES

摘要

With the price of fuel still low, carriers are finding it ever more difficult to justify rate increases, and it is the shippers who are feeling the benefit of cheap bunker prices as freight rates on the majority of trades continue to decline. The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index's comprehensive index, comprising a weighted average of all-in spot rates across 15 major trades from Shanghai to destinations around the globe, continued to break records in April but for all the wrong reasons. At the end of the month, the index stood at an all-time low of 702.46 points. The following week the index had climbed slightly to 761.02 points, although this was still down some 33.5% on the corresponding week of 2014.