Container Rates Begin to Fall in Pacific Lanes and Elsewhere

Ocean container rates on the trans-Pacific trade lane have begun to fall after rising steadily for months to a five-year-average high of $2,980 in July, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants and other transportation experts.

Rates stayed higher than expected through mid-summer as shipping demand remained strong, but the addition of new capacity to container fleets on the Asia/U.S., Asia/Europe and other routes is expected to lead to further rate declines in the third and fourth quarter, Drewry said in its bi-monthly container market report in early September. Rates are already falling in the Asia/Middle East, Asia/South America and Asia/Africa lanes as well as the trans-Pacific.

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