Shortages in inventory and available space have boosted container freight rates for sailings out of India by 7% over the past month. Trading sources said they are willing to pay a premium for short-haul destinations in the Middle East, but liners are not offering containers. Costs for available space on the short-haul routes have surged.
Container freight rates from west coast India to Middle Eastern destinations such as Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, have increased by $100-$150/TEU from before the lockdown period to $600-$650/TEU, $500/TEU, and $375-$400/TEU, respectively. Rates for long-haul destinations also surged, with costs for the route from west coast India to the US increasing by $600-$800/FEU to $2,600-2,700/FEU.
India’s exports decreased for the fourth month in June, but imports recorded a steeper drop of 47.6%. India’s largest container port, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai, reported that exports exceeded imports by 41,600 TEU last month. Traders expected the container shortage to continue until imports from China began to pick up.
