Platts proposes to launch West Coast India-Middle East container rate assessments Nov 1

S&P Global Platts is proposing to launch four daily spot container freight box rate assessments for the West Coast India to Middle East trade lane on Nov. 1, 2021, amid growing trade for products such as agriculture and petrochemicals on the front haul and backhaul routes.

The proposed container rate assessments would reflect the transactable value at 17:30 Singapore time (0930 GMT), for transporting 40-foot equivalent (FEU) and 20-foot equivalent (TEU) containers on the front haul and backhaul routes, for loading five to 25 days forward from the date of publication.

The proposed assessments are:

The proposed assessment would meet the growing demand for freight pricing information on the West Coast India to Middle East trade lane, and complement Platts' petrochemicals and agriculture assessments in these regions.

India's agriculture exports to the Middle East are expected to grow by 10%-15% in volume terms over the next two years from 1.47 million mt in 2020-21 (April-March) financial year, according to India's Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.

On the back haul, Middle East to India route, petrochemicals are among the biggest product group shipped in containers. India's polyolefin imports are expected to increase by an average 16% to 1.98 million mt from 2021 to 2023, with about 55% expected to come from the Middle East, according to Platts Analytics.

The proposed assessments would be published in $/FEU and $/TEU and would follow the Singapore publishing schedule.

The proposed assessments would reflect the following ports under their respective geographical regions:

India West Coast: Mundra, JNPT, Mumbai

Middle East: Jebel Ali, Salalah

Please send any comments or questions to shipping@spglobal.com, containers@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com by Sept. 30.

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.