In February, the supply of shipping capacity on the main routes from Asia to the US and Europe exceeded demand, and the market trend was weak. The Shanghai Export Containerized Freight Index has been falling for five consecutive weeks, and freight rates on all four major routes have dropped, but the decline has narrowed compared to the previous week, indicating that the rate of decline has slowed down. Freight forwarders pointed out that due to the Spring Festival, the supply on this route exceeded demand significantly, and the freight rate was weak and stable. The spot market freight rates for each route were roughly the same as last week.

Freight rates on some regional routes showed a divergence. The Japan route freight rate remained stable, and the South and Central America route stopped falling and rebounded. Some shipping companies plan to raise the basic freight rate in the second half of February. The trans-Pacific route had weak cargo demand, and the freight rate was temporarily stable. The North American route demand weakened, and shipping companies defended the freight rate. The subsequent market is highly uncertain, and the recovery of demand after the Lunar New Year is the key. Although shipping companies want to raise prices in the first ten days of March, the true recovery of demand may not be clear until the middle and lower ten days of March.