I. Tianjin Shipping Index (TSI)

In Week 10, 2018 (Mar.5-Mar.9), Tianjin Container Freight Index (TCI) kept decreasing. Tianjin Bulk Freight Index (TBI) increased with shocks. Tianjin Domestic Container Freight Index (TDI) increased steadily. Tianjin Shipping Index (TSI) fluctuated slightly. The TSI closed at 590.88 points with a decrease of 0.02% from Mar.2 (the last release day of Week 9). The TSI trend is as follows,

The chart above shows the trends of TSI from Feb.26 to Mar.9. The value of TSI in Week 10, 2018 is as follows,

II. Tianjin Container Freight Index (TCI)

In Week 10, 2018 (Mar.3 to Mar.9), the trend of TCI is as follows,

In week 10, the TCI decreased rapidly.

From Mar.5 to Mar.6 (Mon. to Tue.), the freight rates in European route and Mediterranean route decreased and then increased. The freight rates in North American route, South American route and Persian-Gulf route decreased overall. The TCI kept decreasing by 1.16% on two consecutive release days. From Mar.7 to Mar.9 (Wed. to Fri.), the freight rates in European route, Mediterranean route, North American route, South American West Coast route and Persian-Gulf route kept the decrease trend. The freight rates in South American East Coast route and Central South American route increased. The TCI kept decreasing by 2.55% on three consecutive release days.

The TCI closed at 407.18 points with a decrease of 15.53 points (3.67%) from Mar.2 (the last release day of Week 9).

The TCI index value saw several up and down on a day-on-day basis are as follows:

European/Mediterranean route Factories slowly returned to work and the transport capacity recovered. Cargo volume was low and the freight rates presented a weak trend. In European route and Mediterranean route, the pressure to collect cargo was large. The freight rates decreased with shocks. The freight indices decreased 5.24% and 2.64% on a week on week basis. The freight rates in Mediterranean West Coast route increased slightly with fluctuation. The freight indices increased 0.57%.

North American route Cargo volume hovered around a low level. Basically, transport capacity returned to the level before Spring Festival. Competition for cargo was fierce. The freight rates presented a weak trend the whole week. The freight indices in North American West Coast route and North American East Coast route decreased 5.86% and 4.34% respectively this week.

South American route Freight transport demand presented a weak trend. The pressure of loading rate increased. The freight rates decreased markedly. The freight indices decreased 15.95% this week. In South American East Coast route, the freight rates kept decreasing. In latter half of the week, some ship owners tried to raise the freight rates. But the effort was too small that the freight indices decreased 6.55%. In Central South American route, because some ship owners reduced the transport capacity, the freight rates increased after the decrease early this week. The freight indices decreased slightly by 0.80% on a week on week basis.

Persian-Gulf route Cargo volume was on a low level and the transport capacity was large. The ship owners reduced the freight rates to maintain berth utilization ratio. The freight indices decreased 10.14% this week.

III. Tianjin Bulk Freight Index (TBI)

Week 10, 2018 (Mar.5 – Mar.9), Tianjin Bulk Freight Index (TBI) is shown as follows:

In week 10, the TBI increased with shocks.

From Mar.5 to Mar.7 (Mon. to Wed.), the freight rates of coal and mineral ore increased continuously and the freight rate of grain increased with shocks, which led the TBI to increase for three successive release days. The total increase was 0.89%. On Mar.8 (Thu.), the freight rate of mineral ore began to decrease, which led to a day-on-day TBI decrease of 0.45%.

On Mar.9 (Fri.), the freight rates of coal and grain continued to increase and the freight rate of mineral ore stabilized and increased, which led the TBI to increase 0.86%. TBI ended at 782.85 points with an increase of 10.02 points (1.30%) from Mar.2 (the last release day of week 9).

TBI index value saw several ups and downs on a day-on-day basis, which is shown as follows:

TBCI increased continuously this week. TBCI ended at 649.76 points with an increase of 33.93 points (5.51%) from Mar.2 (the last release day of week 9). Demand of coal shipment was stable and the freight rate increased steadily. For the Panamax market, the market deal was good, which led the freight rate of the DBCT to Tianjin route to increase obviously. The total increase of the week was about 8.5%. For the Capesize market, the freight rate of Hay Point to Qingdao route increased with shocks and the total increase was over 1%.

TBGI increased as a whole this week. It ended at 701.05 points with an increase of 11.56 points (1.68%) from Mar.2 (the last release day of week 9). The deal of grain in South America was active and the Panamax market was good as a whole, then the freight rate increased further. The freight rate of South America to Tianjin route increased over 2.5%. The freight rate of US Gulf to Tianjin route increased over 1% and the freight rate of West America to Tianjin route increased about 0.8%.

TBMI increased slightly earlier this week and then decreased significantly later. It ended at 997.73 points with a decrease of 15.45 points (1.52%) from Mar.2 (the last release day of week 9). For the iron ore market, there were many transactions in Australia earlier this week, which supported the freight rate. Shipment demand in West Australia decreased significantly later in the week, which led the freight rate to decrease. The freight rate of West Australia to North China decreased over 2%. By contrast, the market of remote mine route was gloomy. The freight rate of Brazil to Tianjin route decreased continuously later in the week and the total decrease was about 0.8%. As for nickel ore, the freight rate of Surigao to Tianjin route shocked narrowly this week and the total increase was over 0.3%.

IV. Tianjin Domestic Container Freight Index (TDI)

Week 10, 2018 (Mar.5-Mar.9), the trend of Tianjin Domestic Container Freight Index (TDI) is shown in the chart below:

Compared with the TDI in Week 9, the TDI in Week 10 went up slowly.

From Mar.5 (Mon.) to Mar.6 (Tues.), though the Outward Index remained the same, the Inward Index rose slightly, which finally got the TDI increased 0.77%. On Mar.7 (Wed.), the TDI kept 745.79 points. On Mar.8 (Thur.), the Outward Index started to suffer a downward trend, but the TDI rose moderately (1.05 points) attributed to the better trend of the Inward Index. To Mar.9 (Fri.), the TDI was closed at 746.84 points, with a growth of 6.74 points (0.91%), compared with that on Mar.2 (the last release day of Week 9).

The value of TDI ups and downs on a day-on-day basis are shown as follows:

Tianjin Domestic Container Outward Freight Index (TDOI) experienced a slight decline, finally being closed at 873.49 points on Mar.9 (Fri.), with a decrease of 6.42 points or 0.73% compared with that on Mar.2 (the last release day of Week 9). At the beginning of the week, the trend of the freight rate indices of three routes kept relatively stable. For the rest of the week, Tianjin maintained orange alert for air pollution, which led to the suspending of some non-consumer goods transport and even the overall supply reduction. Therefore, some shipping companies had to cut freight index to ensure the loading rate of accommodation, which eventually resulted in the freight rate index of Tianjin-Guangzhou route decreased 1.00%. As for Tianjin-Shanghai and Tianjin-Quanzhou route, the freight rate indices continually remained steady.

Tianjin Domestic Container Inward Freight Index (TDII) increased steadily this week. The TDII was closed at 620.19 points on Mar.9, with an increase of 19.91 points (3.32%), compared with that on Mar.2 (the last release day of Week 9). This week, some ship companies increased their freight, so the freight rate index of Quanzhou-Tianjin route jumped 11.67%. Besides, the freight rate index of Guangzhou-Tianjin route rose 1.84%. To contrast, the freight rate index of Shanghai-Tianjin route suffered a decline of 0.21%.