S&P Global launches Indian Subcontinent-East Coast North America box rate assessments

S&P Global Commodity Insights has launched two daily spot container freight box rate assessments for the Indian Subcontinent to East Coast North America shipping lane, effective April 1, to reflect growing trade on this route for products like textiles, packaged medicaments and electrical equipment on the fronthaul, and cotton, soybeans, and scrap metal on the backhaul.

S&P Global first proposed the launch of these assessments in a subscriber note published Feb. 11: https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/021122-platts-proposes-to-launch-indian-subcontinent-east-coast-north-america-box-rate-assessments

The assessments reflect the transactable value at 17:30 Singapore time (0930 GMT), for transporting 40-foot equivalent (FEU) containers on the fronthaul and backhaul routes, for loading five to 25 days forward from the date of publication.

The US is the biggest export partner for the Indian Subcontinent, with all four nations (India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) predominantly shipping out to the east coast of North America. Data from Panjiva, the trade analysis unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, showed that in 2021, the US accounted for roughly a quarter of all export container shipments headed out from each of the four nations.

India accounted for more than 75% of the total 2.2 million twenty-foot equivalents (TEU) container units shipped from the subcontinent to the US in 2021, according to data from Panjiva.

The new box rate assessments are

S&P Global assesses key shipping regions under broad geographic descriptions. The relevant descriptions for the routes are:

Indian Subcontinent: West Coast India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

East Coast North America: Atlantic Coast including Canada

The assessments are published in $/FEU and follow the Singapore publishing schedule.

The new assessments are published on Platts Bunker Alert pages 3950, 3951 and 3958; Platts Shipping Alert pages 510, 511 and 514; in Platts Dry Freight Wire, Platts Dry Freight Wire Monthly; and in the Platts price database under the codes above.

Please send any comments or questions to shipping@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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