Freight Rates Have Accelerated Their Declines
Oct 18, 2022
The latest HSBC research report said that due to the faster-than-expected decline in freight rates and the easing of port congestion, container shipping spot tariffs might fall to the 2019 tariff level as early as the end of this year.
On Wednesday, the global bank lowered its demand forecast for 2023. It raised its capacity supply forecast for 2022-2024 to reflect that the easing of port congestion is freeing up stranded capacity in the market.
"As a result, we now expect the Shanghai Container Freight Rate Index (SCFI) to bottom out in mid-2023 and shipping profitability to bottom out in the second half of 2023." Parish Jain, Head of Shipping, Ports and Asia Transport Research at HSBC, wrote in the Global Container Shipping Report. Previously, it predicted that the bottom of sea freight rates will be in 2024.
