SplyLine · Data
Container shipping rates, week by week
The Drewry World Container Index as reported in every SplyLine issue since Sep 19, 2025, with what moved it. Updated every Friday.
Latest reading · Oct 9, 2026 issue
$4,434per 40-ft container
−0.8% from $4,468 (Sep 25, 2026)
- Since Sep 19, 2025
- +131.8%
- Low
- $1,651 Oct 11, 2025
- High
- $4,526 Aug 21, 2026
What the index measures
Drewry's World Container Index is a composite of spot rates for a 40-foot container on eight major east–west routes, including Shanghai to Los Angeles, New York, Rotterdam and Genoa. Drewry publishes it every Thursday, so the reading in a Friday SplyLine issue is that week's index.
A spot index tells you what an unbooked box costs this week, not what you pay on contract. Contract rates tend to follow spot with a lag, which is why it matters at renewal time: a falling index is leverage, a rising one is a deadline. SplyLine reads it each week against diesel, tariffs and import demand, and the issue linked from each reading below says what drove the move.
Figures are as SplyLine reported them. Weeks without an issue or a reading show as gaps. Drewry's own series is the source of record.
Every reading
| Issue | Index | Change | What the issue said |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 2026 | $4,434 | −0.8% | Freight Cooled. Prices Kept Climbing. |
| Sep 25, 2026 | $4,468 | −0.2% | ▼ 1% WoW; Shanghai–LA ▲ 2% to $7,838 |
| Sep 12, 2026 | $4,476 | −1.1% | Flat, stable for a second week, Sept 10 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | $4,526 | +6.4% | ▲ 4% WoW per 40-ft box, Aug 20 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | $4,255 | +56.9% | ▼ 3% WoW per 40-ft box, July 30 |
| May 22, 2026 | $2,712 | +6.2% | ▲ 6% WoW; third consecutive weekly gain |
| May 15, 2026 | $2,553 | +11.7% | ▲ 12% WoW; sharpest weekly gain of 2026 |
| May 8, 2026 | $2,286 | +3.2% | ▲ 3% WoW; breaks three-week decline |
| May 1, 2026 | $2,216 | −0.7% | ▼ 1% WoW; third consecutive weekly decline |
| Apr 24, 2026 | $2,232 | −0.6% | ▼ 1% WoW; driven by Asia–Europe softness |
| Apr 17, 2026 | $2,246 | −1.8% | ▼ Down 3% WoW, ending six-week rally |
| Apr 3, 2026 | $2,287 | +5.3% | Held steady April 2 after four weekly gains |
| Mar 27, 2026 | $2,172 | +14.4% | ▲ Up 2% WoW; third consecutive weekly gain |
| Feb 27, 2026 | $1,899 | −1.8% | ▼ 1% WoW, 7th straight weekly decline |
| Feb 13, 2026 | $1,933 | −1.3% | ▼ down 1%; 40% below year-ago levels |
| Feb 6, 2026 | $1,959 | −11.4% | ▼ down 7% WoW, down 43% YoY |
| Jan 23, 2026 | $2,212 | −13.5% | ▼ down 10% week over week |
| Jan 9, 2026 | $2,557 | +15.5% | ▲ up 16%, sharpest weekly jump since October |
| Jan 2, 2026 | $2,213 | +1.4% | ▲ Dec. 25, up 11% over two weeks |
| Dec 19, 2025 | $2,182 | +11.5% | ▲ up 12%; still 43% below Dec. 2024 levels |
| Dec 12, 2025 | $1,957 | +5.3% | ▲ Dec. 11, second consecutive weekly increase |
| Nov 14, 2025 | $1,859 | +2.0% | ▼ down 5% week over week |
| Oct 31, 2025 | $1,822 | +8.0% | ▲ up 4%, ending 17-week decline |
| Oct 17, 2025 | $1,687 | +2.2% | ▲ Up 2% WoW; first rise after 17 weeks |
| Oct 11, 2025 | $1,651 | −1.1% | ▼ Down 1% weekly (October 9) |
| Oct 3, 2025 | $1,669 | −12.8% | ▼ down 5% week over week, 18-month low |
| Sep 19, 2025 | $1,913 | – | ▼ 14th consecutive weekly decrease, down 6% WoW |
Change is against the previous reading in this table, which may be more than a week earlier.