SIMIC

CONTAINER lines predominantly active on the India-US tradelane have lined up a renewed general rate increase (GRI) despite a slowing market environment.
The first signs have come from CMA CGM and MSC, both have advised customers of a US$500 per-TEU GRI from end-March.
CMA CGM (India) said Indian container loads to USEC, US Gulf Coast and Canada will attract this rate hike from March 24.
MSC (India), in a trade notice, noted that the GRI, which it plans to apply from March 23, was necessary "to maintain the high level of reliability and efficiency of services to meet the needs of customers".
MSC, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd are the market leaders for India-US containerised trade, providing multiple weekly sailings out of Nhava Sheva (JNPT) and Mundra, reports London's Loadstar.
Average rates for Indian exports to the US have seen significant declines in recent months, sequentially reversing to pre-pandemic levels from historic highs in late 2021/early 2022.
Although the latest "GRI ask", is modest compared with the traditional trend, industry sources remain sceptical about the chances for success, as the demand downturn had already left carriers with considerable capacity overhang problems to deal with.
On top of that, the recent addition of new strings - a West India-USEC connection by Cosco/OOCL and a West India-USWC routing by MSC - has only exacerbated the rate slide in the past few weeks. As a result, the cost of shipping a TEU from Nhava Sheva/Mundra to New York has hit a new low of $1,750, a 30 per cent fall from the $2,550 reported at the end of January, according to freight forwarder sources.
"Over the past two years, carriers struggled to increase space and equipment to meet the resurgent Indian export trade and, as demand slowed, rates have sharply softened," a Mumbai-based liner industry representative said.
"Container lines are continuing to encourage Indian trade to enable exporters to take advantage of potential growth opportunities as western importers increasingly move away from their long-time China-centric procurements to a 'China+1' sourcing model," the source said.
"All this will lead to a healthy rate situation."
Last fiscal year, Indian exports soared 43 per cent, to $418 billion by value, a key factor that had prompted shipping lines to ramp up capacity, mainly in the form of complementary connections to existing networks.