The average spot rate this week for shipping a 40-foot container from Asia to the East Coast was $2,229, and the West Coast rate was $1,264 per FEU, according  to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index published on JOC.com under the Market Data Hub. Spot rates, like contract rates, were quite low last year at this time. Despite the declines the past four weeks, the spot rate to the East Coast is still 37 percent higher than the $1,622 per-FEU rate in week 20 of 2016, and the West Coast rate is 60 percent higher than the spot rate of $788 per FEU last year.

Spot rates spiked in late April as importers hurried to beat the May 1 deadline for new service contracts in the eastbound Pacific. The service contract rates that had been in effect for the previous year were at record-low levels and carriers had made it clear they intended to get sizeable increases in the new contracts. Therefore, importers in late April shipped some  merchandise that would have otherwise moved in May or June. Carriers capitalized on the surge in demand by increasing spot rates.

However, the higher spot rates lasted only one week, and since then the rates to both coasts have edged lower. The measured pace of rate reductions indicates that vessel utilization rates are still fairly high even though the busy summer-fall peak-shipping season has yet to begin.