Drewry container index falls 3% amid ongoing tariff uncertainty

Published: 2025-05-09

INSIGHTS

Drewry World Container Index fell 3.05 per cent to $2,091 per FEU on May 1, 2025, amid ongoing trade uncertainty due to reciprocal tariffs.
Freight rates declined on major routes, with Shanghai–Rotterdam and Shanghai–New York seeing notable drops.
The index remains 80 per cent below its 2021 peak but is 47 per cent above 2019 levels.
Drewry expects further rate declines in the coming week.

Drewry World Container Index (WCI)—a composite measure of container freight rates—further eased by 3.05 per cent to $2,091 per 40-foot equivalent unit (FEU) on May 1, down from $2,157 per FEU the previous week. Uncertainty following the tariff war is still affecting global trade. Due to changing cost dynamics after the imposition of a base tariff of 10 per cent on most countries, exports and imports remain sluggish.

The index remained 80 per cent below the pandemic peak of $10,377 in September 2021. However, it was 47 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic average of $1,420 in 2019, according to the weekly report.

The average year-to-date (YTD) composite index stood at $2,811 per 40-foot container, which is $82 lower than the 10-year average of $2,893 (inflated by the exceptional 2020–22 COVID period).

Freight rates from Shanghai to Rotterdam decreased by 5 per cent, or $110, to $2,202 per 40-foot container. Rates from Rotterdam to Shanghai and Shanghai to Genoa declined by 4 per cent to $464 and $2,889 per 40-foot container, respectively.

Continuing the trend, rates from Shanghai to New York and Rotterdam to New York fell by 3 per cent to $3,500 and $2,041 per 40-foot container, respectively. Rates from Los Angeles to Shanghai dropped by 2 per cent, or $16, to $689 per 40-foot container, while rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles decreased by 1 per cent, or $27, to $2,590 per 40-foot container. Meanwhile, rates from New York to Rotterdam rose by 2 per cent, or $17, to $842 per 40-foot container.

Drewry expects rates to continue declining in the coming week due to ongoing uncertainty stemming from reciprocal tariffs.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)