The strike at U.S. East Coast ports has come to an end, and although carriers had expected that the strike could lead to higher freight rates and additional costs, these expected effects have not been realized. On October 11, the Shanghai Export Container Comprehensive Freight Index released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange was 206

All continued to fall, of which the European line fell significantly.

Source: Shanghai Shipping Exchange Invasion and deletion

According to the report, the Asia-Europe route transportation market has continued to weaken recently, and the spot market booking price continued to decline this week. On the Mediterranean route, the market situation is in sync with the European route, and the market freight rate continues to decline. On October 11, the market freight rate (ocean freight and ocean freight surcharge) exported from Shanghai Port to Europe and Mediterranean basic ports were US$2,040/TEU and US$2,369/TEU respectively, down 9.3% and 6.8% respectively from the previous period.
In terms of North American routes, there was a brief strike by dockworkers on the east coast of the United States in early October, and the strike has now subsided and has not had a major impact on the transportation market. This week, transportation demand recovered slowly after the National Day holiday, the balance of supply and demand was not ideal, and the market freight rate continued to fall. On October 11, the market freight rate (ocean freight and ocean freight surcharge) for exports from Shanghai Port to the basic ports of the West and East of the United States were US$4,730/FEU and US$5,554/FEU respectively, down 2.5% and 1.3% respectively from the previous period.

In addition, the Drury World Container Index (WCI) showed that the Shanghai-New York spot rate fell 3% week-on-week to $5,761 per 40 feet, and the Shanghai-Los Angeles spot rate decreased 5% week-on-week to $5,019 per 40 feet.
Although the strike did not have a major impact on freight rates, the three-day strike caused severe congestion, with about 70 vessels queuing for berths. Just last week, 29 ships in New York Harbor were delayed for up to 39 hours, 13 ships at Charleston were delayed for 57 hours, and 27 ships at Savannah were delayed for 70 hours.
With demand weakening, shipping lines have also begun to increase the number of blank sailings on major east-west routes to avoid further congestion on the US East Coast.

In the five weeks from 14 October to 17 November 2024, 69 cancellations have been announced on the main east-west main routes – the trans-Pacific, transatlantic and Asia-Nordic and Mediterranean routes – representing 10% of the planned 693 voyages, according to Druery.
Of these, about 58% will be on the transpacific eastbound route, 26% on the Asia-Nordic and Mediterranean route, and 16% on the transatlantic westbound route.
Drury also said that with the end of the strike and the retreat of peak demand, despite the strong willingness of shipping companies to raise prices, it is expected that freight rates will continue to fall during the current seasonal downturn.
Judah Levine, principal analyst at Freightos, also said: "With the strike over and peak season demand largely over, container prices should continue to ease during the seasonal off-season between peak season and Chinese New Year." ”