Drewry's Intra-Asia Container Index (IACI) dropped $26 last week to $1,478 per 40ft container. The headline move was modest, but the route-level picture was split: Shanghai–Jakarta fell 8% to $2,538 and Shanghai–Busan slipped 2% to $1,132, while Shanghai–Singapore rose 9% to $2,064.
The declines trace back to Chinese ports recovering from the typhoon season. As of Week 44, average vessel waiting time at Shanghai edged down from 36 to 35 hours, while Qingdao improved more sharply, from 35 to 23 hours. With vessel turns smoothing out, carriers have less room to hold rates up.
The upward pressure sits at Singapore. Congestion at the transhipment hub has intensified, raising call costs and feeding directly into the Shanghai–Singapore rate. At the other extreme, Shanghai–Jebel Ali remains at $8,199 per 40ft container, with no sign of Middle East tensions easing.
For shippers moving cargo from China to the US, the index is not a direct benchmark, but two signals matter. First, improving Chinese port efficiency should shorten domestic trucking and waiting time on ocean-plus-parcel first-mile legs. Second, if Singapore congestion persists, some Southeast Asia transhipment cargo could shift back to direct routings, indirectly tightening US-bound capacity.
Drewry expects rates to stay broadly stable in the coming weeks. Demand remains resilient, though, and carriers are adding intra-Asia capacity — OOCL launches its China–Indonesia CIS4 service on 22 November, calling Qingdao, Shanghai, Nansha, Jakarta, Surabaya and Singapore. More capacity means more volatility.