Platts launches West Coast India-Middle East container rate assessments

S&P Global Platts has launched four daily spot container 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.

Platts first proposed the launch of these assessments in a subscriber note published Sept. 16: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/091621-platts-proposes-to-launch-west-coast-india-middle-east-container-rate-assessments-nov-1.

The new container rate assessments reflect the transactable value at 1730 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 assessments will 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 over the next two years from 1.47 million mt in 2020-21 (April-March), according to India's Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.

On the backhaul Middle East-to-India route, petrochemicals are among the biggest product groups 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 new assessments are:

Assessment Code

Platts Container Rate 33 West Coast India-Middle East $/FEU PCR3300

Platts Container Rate 33 West Coast India-Middle East $/FEU MAvg PCR3303

Platts Container Rate 33 West Coast India-Middle East $/TEU TCR3300

Platts Container Rate 33 West Coast India-Middle East $/TEU MAvg TCR3303

Platts Container Rate 34 Middle East-West Coast India $/FEU PCR3400

Platts Container Rate 34 Middle East-West Coast India $/FEU MAvg PCR3403

Platts Container Rate 34 Middle East-West Coast India $/TEU TCR3400

Platts Container Rate 34 Middle East-West Coast India $/TEU MAvg TCR3403

They reflect the following ports under their respective geographical regions:

India West Coast: Mundra, JNPT, Mumbai

Middle East: Jebel Ali, Salalah

The new assessments 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, Platts Bunkerwire and Platts Bunkerwire Monthly; and in the Platts price database under the codes above.

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