After a long streak of declining trends, container freight rates on major trades out of India have begun to rise amid carrier routing disruptions through the Suez Canal, according to the latest market analysis. On the westbound India-Europe trade, average short-term contract rates from West India [Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT)/Nhava Sheva or Mundra Port] to Felixstowe/London Gateway (UK) or Rotterdam (the Netherlands) have risen to US$600 per 20-foot container and US$650 per 40-foot container, from US$450 per 20-foot container and US$550 per 40-foot container at the end of November. For West India-Genoa (the West Mediterranean) bookings, December contract rates have swelled to US$750/TEU, from US$425, and US$700/FEU, from US$550, the analysis shows. Similarly, eastbound cargo (imports into India) rates for these port pairings have jumped measurably from end-November averages to US$800/TEU and US$950/FEU, from US$650 and US$700, respectively, for bookings from Felixstowe/London Gateway to West India, and to US$850/TEU and US$1,050/FEU, from US$750 and US$850, for shipments from Rotterdam to West India.
