WITH Drewry’s World Container Index continuing to reverse last week, albeit at a slower rate, Asia-Australia carriers will be celebrating the contrary, gentle recovery of southbound rates and volumes.
The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index for Week 31 Shanghai-Sydney stood at USD 2,142/FEU, continuing the upward creep of recent weeks though hardly reflecting the quantum of GRIs and PSSs announced by lines on this and other Australasian trade lanes in recent weeks.
Nevertheless, incremental gains are better than backward slides, so carriers are persisting with attempts at implementing rises and solidifying rate levels. Volumes must be healthy too, with TS Lines sneaking in an August voyage by the 1,909 TEU TS Xiamen and moderately larger tonnage re-appearing in CAT, CA2, Panda/ZAX and NEAX, as well as the upsized A3N.
Meanwhile, effective 15 August MSC is implementing a southbound rate restoration of USD 300/TEU for all cargo from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia to Australia and New Zealand:
One day later, 16 August, Hapag-Lloyd will introduced a USD 200/TEU peak season surcharge for all cargo (excluding reefer) loaded in Asia and Oceania for Durban and Cape Town, South Africa. And should you happen to be shipping goods to Conakry, Guinea, the PSS will be USD 600/TEU for all dry, tank and special equipment types, and USD 800/TEU for all reefer equipment types.
Effective 1 September ANL will implement a general rate increase from the United States and Canada to Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Papua New Guinea destinations for dry cargo types per tariff and contract rates, listed at USD 250/TEU, USD 500/FEU. This GRI is NOT applicable to reefer, out-of-gauge, and break bulk (BB) rate items.
On 1 September Maersk Line is revising its Standard Detention in Transit (DIT) charges: “As global supply chains continue to evolve, we are updating our DIT charges to reflect current operating conditions and to maintain a consistent and transparent approach across our network.
The revised charges will apply to all bookings with a DIT arrangement as of 1 September 2025, Price Calculation Date (PCD) and onwards. To learn more, click here.
NPDL advises that in order continue providing a high level of service, equipment supply as well as continuous investment in the fleet, it will be implementing a surcharge on 20-foot high cube dry & reefer equipment. “20-foot high cube equipment adds complexity to our operations, requires additional resources and has associated incremental cost to maintain and operate,” the line said.