European Maritime Freight Rates Rebound After 5 Weeks Amid Suez Canal Incident

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The ultra-large container ship grounding accident in the Suez Canal, Egypt, caused European route maritime freight rates to rebound after about a month.

According to the industry on the 28th, the European route freight rate of the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), a global container ship freight rate indicator, was $3,742 per 20-foot container as of the 26th, up $77 from the previous week, marking an upward trend for the first time in five weeks.

Meanwhile, the composite index of freight rates for 15 routes recorded 2,570.68, down 13.19 points.

As the recovery from the Suez Canal accident is delayed more than expected, it is anticipated to affect the domestic shipping industry as well as export and import logistics.

The 24,000 TEU ultra-large container ship 'HMM Gdansk,' operated by the Korean shipping company HMM on the Asia-Europe route through the Suez Canal, is currently waiting near the Suez Canal waters.

HMM is monitoring the situation until this week and is considering rerouting the vessel around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Earlier, the temporary vessel 'Prestige' decided to bypass the Cape of Good Hope.

An industry official said, "Based on the usual daily cargo volume of the Suez Canal, it is estimated that about 450 billion won worth of logistics transportation is delayed per hour due to this accident."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.