The final week of October closed with the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index at 3,687.35 points, a fourth consecutive weekly gain of 0.16 percent. The headline hides the bigger shift. Evergreen and Yang Ming have now confirmed Suez routings, Durban has added a congestion fee, and Maersk has filed a USD 2,000 per 40ft surcharge on South Africa from 9 November.
| Benchmark | Reading | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCFI composite, 30 Oct | 3,687.35 points | +0.16 percent | SSE |
| SCFI Shanghai to Mediterranean, 40ft | USD 4,318 | +4.48 percent | SSE |
| SCFI Shanghai to Durban, 20ft | USD 4,768 | +13.58 percent | SSE |
| Drewry WCI composite, 29 Oct | USD 4,429 per 40ft | -3 percent | Drewry |
| Drewry Intra-Asia index | USD 1,504 per 40ft | +USD 46, near 200 percent year on year | Drewry |
| Shanghai to Haifa and Ashdod, 6 Nov | USD 4,100 per 20ft, USD 5,100 per 40ft | Marked up | Port quote data |
The last two holdouts moved. Evergreen restarts its China to Red Sea service on 12 November, with the 7,024 TEU Ever Superb sailing from Qingdao, its first Red Sea transit since January 2024. Yang Ming follows on 13 November, when the 11,714 TEU YM Trust leaves Ningbo on the restructured MD1 Asia to East Mediterranean loop. Gemini moved earlier: the ME1/IOS service returned to Suez on 2 November, and MSC has restored the canal on its Europe to Australia loop.
The aggregate matters more than any single string. About 3 million TEU transited Suez in October 2026, and Linerlytica expects the three alliances plus MSC to be fully back by the first quarter of 2027, leaving Zim as the only major carrier still on the Cape. Sea-Intelligence puts 70 to 80 percent of westbound and 80 to 90 percent of eastbound Asia to Mediterranean capacity on the canal for November and December. The revised AE11/SE2 also swaps Tangier for Port Said and cuts the round voyage by roughly 14 days.
The return releases capacity, which is bearish for rates on the affected loops. It does not mean the westbound floor collapses, because carriers filed increases for the second half of November: Maersk at USD 4,000 per FEU, CMA CGM and MSC at USD 4,600 per FEU.
The 30 October assessment for Shanghai to Durban jumped 13.58 percent to USD 4,768 per 20ft, the sharpest move of any major route that week. The cause is landside: congestion at Durban Container Terminal has run since 30 June, roughly 18 weeks, and rail evacuation fell to about 233 boxes a day in mid-September against 477 before the disruption. Of the 14 container ships in port at the start of November, 71 percent had been alongside for more than 48 hours.
Carriers converted the delay into tariff. A Durban wide congestion fee of USD 450 per 20ft and USD 900 per 40ft applies from 1 November with no end date. Maersk adds a surcharge from 9 November of USD 1,000 per 20ft and USD 2,000 per 40ft from Far East Asia to South Africa and Mauritius. CMA CGM and MSC have added USD 500 and USD 1,000. For a 40ft to Johannesburg, the fee and the surcharge alone add USD 2,900 before any base rate movement.
AIS data for the seven days to 1 November shows 35 container ship arrivals at Chattogram, with 25 of them, or 71 percent, staying longer than 48 hours. The median stay was 77 hours and the port is still congested. Terminal management is unsettled too: the Chittagong Port Authority extended the Saif Powertec contract at Chittagong Container Terminal by three weeks from 2 November while a proposal from Red Sea Gateway Terminal International stays under review.
Regional pricing is firm, not explosive. The Drewry Intra-Asia index sits at USD 1,504 per 40ft, close to 200 percent above the level of a year earlier, while waiting time at Ho Chi Minh City stretched from 8 to 22 hours, so transshipment legs through Southeast Asia still need slack.
Reference quotes from Shanghai for 6 November put Haifa and Ashdod at USD 4,100 per 20ft and USD 5,100 per 40ft. Operations are better than the price suggests: Haifa recorded 21 container ship arrivals in the seven days to 2 November, with only seven staying over 48 hours and a median stay of 28 hours, so berth windows are open. Note that Ashdod restricts dangerous goods and no longer accepts DG bookings, so hazardous cargo should route through Haifa, while Ashkelon stays outside normal operations.
Forwarder briefings for week 43 put the global air spot rate at USD 3.80 per kg, up 5 percent on the week and 38 percent above the same week last year, with Asia Pacific to North America at USD 7.43 per kg. The Black Friday build is overlapping with electronics demand.
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