TRANSPACIFIC spot rates are starting to soften since peak season surcharges imposed by some ocean liners took effect on August 1.

The Drewry container rate benchmark for the spot rate for shipping an FEU from Hong Kong to Los Angeles declined by 3.1 per cent to US$2,737 in the week ending August 16, down from $2,824 the previous week.

On the other hand, the latest Drewry benchmark rate is 110.5 per cent higher than it was in the same week last year, when it was $1,300 per FEU.

"We are starting to see a return to sanity in the transpacific shipping market, after the crazy capacity shortages and roll-overs of the last few months, which our shipper clients have experienced," Philip Damas, division director of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors in
London, was quoted as saying in Newark's Journal of Commerce.

Mr Damas said carriers have added about 35,000 TEU of weekly capacity to the trade lane since May. "There have been smallish new entrants, but shipping remains a difficult area for shippers," he said.

"We are advising our clients to focus on the capacity question and capacity risks in the medium term, instead of assuming that there will be plenty of capacity as in the previous years," said Mr Damas.