Spot rates edge up, but carriers plan more blanked sailings

ID 267896836 © Igor Gromov | Dreamstime.com By Gavin van Marle 08/05/2026 Container spot freight rates across the transpacific and Asia-Europe trades saw marginal gains this week, as carriers managed to halt three consecutive weeks of price declines into Europe. According to this week’s World Container Index (WCI) from Drewry, spot rates on the Shanghai-Rotterdam route increased 2%, to $2,170 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-Genoa leg edged up 1%, to $3,075 per 40ft; carriers gaining some momentum before attempting to implement new FAK rate levels next week (15 May), ranging from $3,500-$4,500 per 40ft to North Europe, and $4,500-$4,600 to the Mediterranean. However, both customers and analysts remain sceptical that these will fully stick, despite recent capacity cuts by carriers. “Asia-Europe rates from April to the first half of May have been flat,” one Asia-Europe forwarder told The Loadstar. “We’re seeing early indications of an increase for the second half of May of around $200 per teu, which I think has come from the heavy blanking, and it has impacted our allocations and even seen some rollovers,” he added. According to Drewry’s analysis of blanked sailings and capacity reductions, “effective capacity is expected to decline 3% month on month on Asia-North Europe, and 10% month on month on Asia-Mediterranean in May”, it said. However, analysts at Linerlytica predicted the carriers’ capacity plans would not be enough to support the new FAK levels. One noted: “Carriers will face an uphill task in securing the next three rounds of rate hikes to North Europe, with limited capacity cuts in May and higher capacity expected in June.” There were stronger pricing gains on the transpacific trades, after the implementation of emergency fuel and peak season surcharges by carriers at the beginning of the month. The WCI’s Shanghai-Los Angeles route increased 5% week on week, to end at $3,062 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-New York leg was up 7%, to finish at $3,721 per 40ft. And forwarders on the trade said spot rates were relatively stable, with some discounts of $2,500 per 40ft to the west coast and $3,550 to the east coast available. However, west coast forwarder Freight Right warned that space was becoming increasingly tight, as carriers cut capacity to force prices up, leading to increasing supply chain disruption. “While [transpacific] space is technically available to book, the reduction in vessel capacity means a high percentage of shipments are being rolled to subsequent weeks,” the firm said. This has also recently led to carriers departing China with overloaded vessels, it added, with excess volumes unloaded in the South Korean transhipment hub of Busan. “To compensate for fewer ships, carriers are overloading active vessels, sometimes forcing unplanned discharges at intermediate ports like Busan to lighten the load for the transpacific crossing,” it added, and warned that blanked sailings for the remainder of this month were likely to “occur at a higher rate than in April”. This was confirmed by Linerlytica, which reported: “Multiple blank sailings are planned in early May, with the biggest changes involving the Premier Alliance’s reconfiguration of its transpacific services.”

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• May 9th, 2026
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