Freight Rate Weekly: Why Asia-Europe Rates Slipped 6.48% This Week
Freight Rate Weekly: Why Asia-Europe Rates Slipped 6.48% This Week
Executive Summary
Transpacific rates are still climbing while Asia-Europe keeps sliding. The split is now in its seventh week, and it changes how you should book.
| $2,425/TEU |
| $3,125/TEU |
| $7,560/FEU |
| $10,579/FEU |
| $4,500/FEU |
| $3,626/FEU |
| $10,394/FEU |
| 0.7% |
Overview
Here's the thing about the September 18 SCFI print. The composite index came in at 3,687.83 points, up 0.7% on the week, an eighth straight weekly gain. If you stop reading there, you will book this week wrong.
Pull the sub-indices apart and the picture flips. On September 18, 2026, Shanghai to North Europe fell 6.48% on the week and the Mediterranean fell 5.34%. The US trades went the other way: US West Coast up 3.01%, US East Coast up 0.95%. The Persian Gulf slipped 1.0%.
In spot terms, Shanghai to North Europe basic ports printed $2,425/TEU, down 4.7%. The Mediterranean came in at $3,125/TEU. On the transpacific side, Shanghai to US West Coast reached $7,560/FEU and Shanghai to US East Coast hit $10,579/FEU.
Drewry tells the same story from a different desk. Its September 17 World Container Index rose 1% to $4,500/FEU, but Shanghai to Rotterdam dropped 9% to $3,626/FEU while Shanghai to New York gained 7% to $10,394/FEU.
Put simply, the question is no longer whether rates rise. The question is which lane rises. Drewry puts the divergence between the transpacific and the Asia-Europe trades at seven straight weeks (its own count, not ours).
Key Details
Capacity came back. On September 16, 2026, the 24,188 TEU OOCL Portugal transited the Suez Canal southbound into the Red Sea. It was the first time since the 2023 Red Sea crisis that OOCL routed an ultra-large container ship back through Suez.
One ship is a headline, not a market. The ratio is the market. Suez transits on the Europe-to-Asia leg moved from 18-26% in August to 25-47% in September. The Asia-to-Europe leg stayed lower, at 13-25%.
The Suez Canal Authority puts container ship tonnage through the canal at 72.1 million gross tons in the first eight months of 2026, against 46.7 million a year earlier. That is 54.2% more capacity on the short route, and it lands straight on your Europe rate.
More effective capacity, softer rates. That is the whole explanation, and it has very little to do with European demand.
Looking Ahead
Do not bet on the transpacific easing before Golden Week. If you are holding US boxes, move them now. Shanghai waiting time went from 65 hours in week 36 to 78 hours in week 37, and blank sailings on the transpacific go from eight this week to nine next week. Space is tightening, not opening.
Asia-Europe runs the other way. Why? Blank sailings there climb from one to four, and rates still fall, because the tonnage returning through Suez is larger than the tonnage the blank sailings pull out. Net capacity is rising.
So the split is practical. Move your US cargo forward this week. Hold off on locking a long-term Asia-Europe rate at $2,425/TEU and read one more print first.
Watch out for the composite index. That 3,687.83 figure is carried by the US trades and Southeast Asia. Asia-Europe is a negative contributor inside it, so pricing off the headline will put you on the wrong side of both lanes.
Bottom line: pull US bookings forward, give Europe another week before you sign.
Market Outlook
If the current split holds, we expect transpacific spot rates to firm again in the next print and Asia-Europe to soften for at least one more week. The risk to that view is a fresh security incident around Bab el-Mandeb, which would slow the Suez return and put a floor under Europe.JETWAY Supply Chain is your execution partner on the ground in China — based in Tianjin, licensed as an NVOCC (MOT) and a member of CIFA, FIATA and WCA. We handle special cargo and compliance (dangerous goods, chemicals, batteries) across ocean, air, rail and road, and we pre-check your documents before the box is stuffed so your filing clears the first time. Send us your next booking and we will run the checks above against your sailing date. Request a quote.