World Container Index edges down 1% as capacity builds

The east-west spot market has now fallen two weeks running, but the second step down was small and uneven. Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI), a weighted average of eight east-west lanes priced per 40ft container, fell 1% to US$4,389 in its assessment for 5 November, against US$4,429 on 29 October. The composite remains 124% higher than a year earlier. Drewry attributed the move mainly to lower rates on the transpacific and Asia-Europe routes, as port congestion eased and demand softened at Chinese ports, which follows the 3% fall recorded in the previous week’s assessment.

Drewry had not published its 12 November assessment when this update was prepared, so the 5 November reading is the latest available from the index. The other providers have published since, and they point the same way.

Spot Rates

The lane detail is narrow rather than uniform. Shanghai to Los Angeles was unchanged at US$7,539 per 40ft container, while Shanghai to New York fell 3% to US$9,303. On the Asia-Europe side, Shanghai to Rotterdam dropped 2% to US$3,615 and Shanghai to Genoa held at US$4,166. Drewry also reported average vessel waiting times at Shanghai improving to 35 hours last week as weather conditions improved and demand softened, which is the congestion relief behind the softer readings.

Index (provider)	Trade lane	Unit	Period	Level	Change	Source
World Container Index (Drewry)	Composite, eight east-west lanes	per 40ft	Week to 5 Nov 2026	US$4,389	-1%, from US$4,429 on 29 Oct	Drewry
World Container Index (Drewry)	Shanghai to Los Angeles	per 40ft	Week to 5 Nov 2026	US$7,539	Unchanged	Drewry
World Container Index (Drewry)	Shanghai to New York	per 40ft	Week to 5 Nov 2026	US$9,303	-3% week on week	Drewry
World Container Index (Drewry)	Shanghai to Rotterdam	per 40ft	Week to 5 Nov 2026	US$3,615	-2% week on week	Drewry
World Container Index (Drewry)	Shanghai to Genoa	per 40ft	Week to 5 Nov 2026	US$4,166	Unchanged	Drewry
FBX composite (Freightos Baltic Index)	Global, weighted average of twelve lanes	per 40ft	Level shown on 12 Nov 2026	US$3,451.80	Down 2% to about US$3,452 in the weekly assessment reported 10 Nov, from US$3,513	Freightos, Container News
SCFI composite (Shanghai Shipping Exchange)	Shanghai export lanes, all routes	index points	6 Nov 2026, vs 30 Oct	3,633.45	-53.90 points, or -1.46%	Shanghai Shipping Exchange
CCFI (Shanghai Shipping Exchange)	China export lanes, all routes	index points	6 Nov 2026, vs 30 Oct	1,924.69	+42.87 points, or +2.28%	Shanghai Shipping Exchange

The Freightos composite stood at US$3,451.80 per 40ft when checked on 12 November. Freightos does not attach a reporting period to the live figure on its index page, so the weekly change comes from Container News, which reported the FBX global index down 2% to US$3,452 from US$3,513 in its coverage of the assessments on 10 November. The two indexes agree on direction and disagree on size, which is expected: the WCI prices Shanghai origins against eight specific lane pairs, while the FBX is a weighted average of twelve lanes and draws on forwarder and carrier transaction data.

The Chinese benchmarks split. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index closed at 3,633.45 for 6 November, down 53.90 points or 1.46% from 3,687.35 on 30 October, according to the exchange’s own published table. The broader China Containerized Freight Index moved the other way, rising 42.87 points or 2.28% to 1,924.69 from 1,881.82 on the same dates, on the same source. A composite that aggregates many lanes can rise while a spot sub-index falls, and neither reading settles the direction for an individual lane.

Capacity and Blank Sailings

Effective capacity is rising on both main corridors, and Drewry’s own numbers show why. Three blank sailings have been announced for the transpacific next week, down from five this week, and five for Asia-Europe, down from eight. Fewer cancellations mean more sailings actually float, and Drewry states plainly that with effective capacity increasing, rates are expected to remain under downward pressure on the transpacific.

The headline capacity numbers are records rather than marginal gains. Sea-Intelligence reported on 29 October that average weekly deployed capacity pushed past 350,000 TEU on Asia to North Europe and above 260,000 TEU on Asia to the Mediterranean in October and November 2026, both a break from the post-Golden Week taper of the 2012 to 2025 period. On Asia to the US West Coast, deployed capacity reached nearly 393,000 TEU in October and was slated to average an unprecedented 400,000 TEU a week in November, with Asia to the US East Coast at its highest level for any year. Sea-Intelligence attributes this less to demand than to vessel bunching: ships that should have left in the third quarter were delayed by Asian port congestion and arrived in a clump, which inflates measured weekly capacity without adding a single hull.

Two structural factors sit underneath. Suez Canal transits are climbing, with 60% of Asia-Europe capacity now routed through the canal and 53 vessels transiting in both directions last week, according to Drewry. A return that shortens transit times releases capacity into a market that already has too much of it, as the analysis of the half-finished Suez return set out. Second, the orderbook is still delivering into that oversupply, which is why the two waves of the container surplus matter more for 2027 than the weekly index moves.

Service quality has not recovered alongside the capacity. Sea-Intelligence put global schedule reliability at 50.6% in September 2026, a gain of 0.9 percentage points month on month after three consecutive declines totalling 14.8 percentage points from the May peak of 64.5%. The average delay for late vessel arrivals improved by 0.30 days to 6.65 days, still the second highest September figure on record for that measure.

Routing constraints elsewhere are loosening. The Panama Canal Authority said in a 9 November advisory that daily transit capacity rises to 34 slots, including 24 at the Panamax locks and 10 at the Neopanamax locks, and restored the maximum authorised Neopanamax draft to 15.24 metres (50 feet) with immediate effect, gCaptain reported. That does not change the east-west spot market on its own, but it removes one source of forced longer routings.

What It Means

Carriers are pushing FAK increases in mid-November to strengthen their position ahead of next year’s contract negotiations, and the index data shows the difficulty they face: a composite 1% lower week on week, more sailings announced rather than fewer, and record weekly capacity on both main corridors. Drewry expects rates to remain stable on Asia-Europe next week while continuing to decline on the transpacific, and it flags the specific risk that an accelerated Suez return brings Suez and Cape of Good Hope arrivals into European ports at the same time, raising the chance of vessel bunching and cargo congestion. That view is Drewry’s, not this publication’s.

For shippers, the practical reading is that spot levels remain far above last year while the direction has turned against the carriers’ announced increases. The gap between the announced FAK level and the assessed market is where November negotiations are actually being settled, and it has widened for two consecutive weeks.

Regulation and Costs

Marine fuel has moved sharply in the carriers’ favour. Ship & Bunker assessed Singapore very low sulphur fuel oil at US$814.50 a tonne on 11 November, down from US$1,019.50 on 30 October, a fall of US$205 or 20.1%, Splash247 reported on 12 November. The same assessments put the 20-port global VLSFO average at US$842 a tonne from US$999, a decline of 15.7%, with Fujairah at US$813.50 and Rotterdam at US$710.

Bunker prices feed directly into BAF and low sulphur surcharges, and those mechanisms typically pass through with a lag rather than immediately, so the November retreat works against the direction of the mid-November FAK increases on any service where fuel is recovered separately. It does not undo the year’s cost base: Splash247 reported that Singapore fuel remains about 56% more expensive than immediately before the war began on 28 February, and that Clarksons Research managing director Steve Gordon put shipping’s total bunker bill for the year at a record US$220bn, speaking at the IBIA Annual Convention in New York. Fuel is falling from a very high level, which is a different statement from fuel being cheap.