Page 58 - economic_survey_2021-2022

32 Economic Survey 2021-22

Also, the freight prices on major global sea routes have observed an upward trend during the
same period. Table 2A below shows the prices and percentage change (YoY) from last year
for major routes.
Table 2A: Spot freight rates by major route

Route As on 20 January YoY change
th
2022 (US$) ( per cent)
Composite Index 9,698 82
Shanghai - Rotterdam 14,053 55
Rotterdam - Shanghai 1,452 3

Shanghai - Genoa 12,794 46
Shanghai - Los Angeles 11,197 168
Los Angeles - Shanghai 1,262 138
Shanghai - New York 13,987 115
New York - Rotterdam 1,245 93
Rotterdam - New York 6,292 176

Source: Drewry, 2022
The shortage of containers has also impacted the Indian sea trade. According to the Federation
of Indian Export Organisation set up under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the lack
of containers has resulted in rising sea freight rates in the range of 300 per cent to 350 per
cent .
5
Further, the production of the new containers has slowed since 2019 (Figure 2C).
Simultaneously, a rise in the disposal of containers has also been observed for the same
period. Thus, the overall growth in the containers has fallen from 11 per cent in 2019 to 5
per cent in 2021. Unless the production is ramped up significantly across the globe, this will
remain a persistent problem.

Figure 2C: Manufacturing and Disposal of Containers

70 11 12
11
60 10
9 9
50 7 8 8
in thousands 40 60 55 5 6 per cent

30
20 48 44 45 49 4
36
10 5 5 5 7 7 2
2 2
0 0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Containers manufactured Containers disposed Global Container Growth (%) (RHS)

Source: 2021 Global Tank Container Fleet Survey, International Tank Container Organisation

5 A Speech of FIEO President, Sept 2021. https://www.fieo.org/view_detail.php?lang=0&id=0,21&dcd=7452&did
=16321181898hbfjpo6pvshqpu4f2sib0v776