XSI® Far East
The XSI® for Far East exports fell 7.5% in January, bringing the index down to 135.4 points.
December 2020 was the last time this index fell below 140 points.
Out of the six regional XSI® indices, Far East export is also the one to have fallen the most compared to January 2023, down by 69.8%.
The index for imports into the Far East is the first of the XSI® indices to fall below 100 post the pandemic rates boom.
It fell to 99.4 points in January, down 4.7% from December and the lowest it has been since January 2021. The baseline for the index is January 2017.
The crisis in the Red Sea came at a bad time for global shipping (not that there is ever a good time) as shippers were hoping to use January to get cargo out of the Far East before the Lunar New Year shutdown in China and other Asian countries.
The longer sailing time around Africa means ships were late returning to the Far East from previous sailings to Europe and US East Coast, forcing carriers to cancel scheduled services.
Uncertainty around which services will actually run has been one of the driving forces behind rapidly increasing spot rates, with shippers, unsure of what capacity would be offered, scrambling to secure space - even if it meant doing so at a much higher rate.
The post Lunar New Year slowdown in exports will provide a much-needed opportunity for carriers to reset.
While they will likely continue to sail around Africa for the foreseeable future, they can build these longer transit times into new schedules, giving shippers and others clarity as to what they can reliably offer as the crisis continues.
