A large shipping company plans to adjust the peak season surcharge (PSS) for all 20-foot and 40-foot dry cargo containers on routes from China, Hong Kong, China and other places to South Africa and Mauritius on July 28, 2025: 20-foot containers will be charged US$1,000 and 40-foot containers will be charged US$1,600.
Another large shipping company announced that the peak season surcharge (PSS) for routes from the Far East, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East to Australia will take effect soon. The surcharge applies to all types of containers and will be levied from August 1, 2025 until further notice, with a charge of US$300 per TEU.
According to the latest data released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange on July 11, the Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) has fallen for five consecutive weeks, falling 30.2 points last week to 1733.29 points, a weekly decline of 1.71%.
Among the four major ocean routes in Europe and the United States, the freight rates of the US route rebounded slightly after falling for four consecutive weeks, among which the US West Coast route and the US East Coast route rose by 5.02% and 1.16% respectively, becoming a highlight in recent times. In order to stabilize freight rates, shipping companies are reducing capacity deployment, and the number of suspensions in August is expected to increase by 25%. At the same time, shipping services from Asia to the United States are also shrinking.
The freight rates of the European route are at a stage top. Although the economic recovery in Europe is relatively stable, the European route freight rates have remained basically stable due to factors such as the lack of clear results on tariff issues, with a decline of only 0.09%; while the Mediterranean route freight rates fell by 7.04% due to increased capacity investment and other reasons. However, there are reports that the United States will impose a 30% tariff on goods imported from the European Union from August 1, coupled with possible congestion at European ports, which may push up freight rates on European routes in the later period. Freight rates on the Asia-Europe route are expected to rise again in the next few weeks.