Shifl has announced the launch of SHIFEX, an Ocean Spot Freight Rate Index on their website amidst rising uncertainty of rates in the freight market.
The CEO and Founder of Shifl, Shabsie Levy, commented on how he had fallen victim to this opaqueness in the trade – the true rates often separated by sums exceeding thousands of dollars. He said, “In the current market condition, just about no one can afford to pay hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars more for moving a single container.
“By leveraging our existing technology, we are helping shippers benchmark the freight rates they should be paying for their shipments and help them better plan their order placements and inventory.”
SHIFEX tracks live ocean freights, using averages from 40’ containers on main Transpacific routes for any given time period. The transparency in freight rates is absolutely paramount to the health and prosperity of the trade as it nurtures customer engagement, builds trust and increases productivity in the industry. Collating its own data of bookings and shipments overseas, Shifl was able to identify changing ocean spot freight rates and notify the market during the turbulent periods of trade between 2021 and 2022 of those changes.
Eli Gelbman, of childrens’ toy manufacturer The New York Doll Collection, had this to say: “I am pleased that Shifl is launching SHIFEX. As a regular importer, we have been following Shifl’s rate data in their market reports which has helped us tremendously in managing the volatility in the freight market. Having the same info now on-demand will allow us to make better supply chain decisions and improve efficiency in costing and in planning our orders.”
Levy had additional commentary on the current state of the market: “The reduction in consumer demand in the US market caused ocean freight rates and especially ocean spot freight rates to drop considerably since January 2022.
“Coming off its high in January 2022 of around USD17-18000/40’ from China to US West Coast, container ocean spot freight rates have plateaued at around USD7-8000/40’ since April 2022 and as per indications it is set to maintain these levels till at least July 2022. China to US East Coast spot freight rates dropped from a high of USD19-20000/40’ in January 2022 to around USD9-10000/40’ since March 2022 and as per indications it is set to maintain these levels till at least July 2022.
“Market reports have indicated that ocean freight rates on long term contracts have increased substantially in 2022, overtaking container spot freight rates for the moment, but it is dependent on what happens in China.”
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Rebecca Morpeth Spayne,
Editor, International Trade Magazine
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