New ‘conundrum’: Asia-US, Europe ocean rates diverge
Container rates on the busiest U.S. trade lanes are signaling a peak while a return to the Red Sea has yet to weaken Europe rates.
Trans-Pacific container spot rates were largely unchanged last week, signaling the market has peaked and is likely to soften through the remainder of 2026, according to analyst Xeneta.
Average spot rates from Asia to the U.S. West Coast edged up 0.2% in the week ending Oct. 23 to $8,311 per forty-foot equivalent unit. Rates to the U.S. East Coast also increased 0.2%, reaching $11,525 per FEU.
“This confirms the U.S. trades have peaked and we expect them to soften through the remainder of 2026,” said Peter Sand, Xeneta’s chief analyst, in a note to clients.
The weekly plateau leaves trans-Pacific rates well above earlier benchmarks. West Coast rates were up 18.9% from July 1 and 342% from Feb. 28, which Xeneta uses as its pre-Hormuz crisis benchmark. East Coast rates were up 31.7% and 335%, respectively.
This story was originally published by FreightWaves. Read the full story at FreightWaves →
Conversation