September Panama Surcharges Arrive as Container Rates Stabilize

Key Takeaway

Drewry’s World Container Index came in at $4,473 per 40ft container in its August 27 assessment, down 1% week over week and ending three straight weeks of gains. No major lane moved more than 3%. Shanghai to New York eased 2% to $9,333, Shanghai to Los Angeles held flat at $6,818, Shanghai to Genoa eased 2% to $4,866, and Shanghai to Rotterdam eased 3% to $4,287. After a fortnight in which Shanghai to New York rose 10% and then 9% in consecutive weeks, the spread has closed. The quiet on the rate line is not matched anywhere else in the market: Shanghai vessel waiting time roughly tripled, Panama cuts daily transit slots twice in September, and two carriers add Panama surcharges to Asia to US East Coast cargo in the second week of September.

This Week’s Rates

Route	Rate ($/FEU)	WoW	Trend
Shanghai to New York	$9,333	-2%	Stable
Shanghai to Los Angeles	$6,818	Flat	Stable
Shanghai to Genoa	$4,866	-2%	Stable
Shanghai to Rotterdam	$4,287	-3%	Softening
Drewry WCI composite	$4,473	-1%	Stable

Source: Drewry World Container Index, assessed August 27, 2026. Rates are per 40ft container. Drewry’s WCI includes applicable ocean-freight surcharges and, depending on the route and prevailing market practice, terminal handling charges; inland transport surcharges and certain documentation, booking, and customs fees are excluded.

What’s Driving the Movement

Transpacific capacity came back and rates barely noticed. Drewry’s August 27 assessment counts four blank sailings announced for the coming week on the transpacific, down from seven the week before. More sailings means more slots on the water, which normally pulls spot rates down. Shanghai to Los Angeles held flat and Shanghai to New York gave back only 2%, or $174 per FEU against last week’s read. Drewry attributes the resilience to demand that has stayed firm while carriers keep managing capacity deliberately, and expects transpacific rates to be less volatile in the week ahead. The August 20 assessment gives some of the reason the East Coast lane is holding a $2,515 premium over the West Coast: August capacity on Asia to USEC fell 9% month over month, against a 0.4% decline on Asia to USWC.

Asia to Europe tightened capacity and still softened. Blank sailings on Asia to Europe rose to four for the coming week from two, so carriers are pulling capacity out of that lane rather than adding it. Rotterdam still eased 3% to $4,287 and Genoa eased 2% to $4,866. Withdrawing sailings into a lane where rates keep drifting down is the signal to watch, because it says carriers do not currently expect demand to defend these levels on its own. Drewry projects Asia to Europe rates to stay broadly stable next week despite the capacity constraint.

What is the Drewry World Container Index (WCI)?

The Drewry World Container Index is a weekly spot-rate assessment published every Thursday that prices a 40ft container across eight major East-West routes, then blends them into a single composite figure. It measures the spot market, so it reflects current market pricing rather than fixed contract rates. The assessment includes applicable ocean-freight surcharges, including charges such as bunker, peak-season, Panama Canal, Suez Canal, and congestion surcharges, while terminal handling charges are included where that reflects prevailing market practice on the route. Inland transport surcharges and certain documentation, booking, and customs fees are excluded. The eight routes include low-priced backhaul legs such as Rotterdam to Shanghai and Los Angeles to Shanghai alongside the headhaul lanes most shippers watch, which is why the $4,473 composite sits far below the $9,333 quoted on Shanghai to New York. Treat the composite as a market direction indicator, not as a proxy for any particular booking. Drewry’s full per-lane table and its historical series sit behind a paid subscription; the weekly composite and the headline lane moves are published openly.

Shanghai congestion got materially worse. Drewry reports that average vessel waiting time at Shanghai reached 96 hours in the week before this assessment, up from 35 hours the week prior. That is roughly two and a half extra days a ship spends at anchor before working cargo, and it lands on the origin port for every lane in the table above. The reporting lag is the point. A congestion move of this size has already happened and has not yet reached spot rates; it surfaces later as rolled bookings and equipment that does not return to the yard on schedule.

Panama steps down twice this month, and the second step is the real one. The Panama Canal Authority reduces daily transit slots to nine at the Neopanamax Locks and 25 at the Panamax Locks effective September 3, with Panamax dropping again to 23 slots from September 15. In total capacity terms that is 34 daily transits from September 3 and 32 from September 15, against 36 under normal water conditions. The canal averaged just over 34 transits per day in July, so the first step largely formalises how the waterway is already running and the September 15 cut is where capacity actually contracts. The ACP frames the measures as necessary despite the arrival of Panama’s rainy season and despite water-saving measures already in place to mitigate El Niño effects, with watershed precipitation running below expectations. Reporting on the same ACP update puts May to August rainfall 34% below the historical average and inflows 44% below.

The Panama Cost, Not Just the Panama Delay

CMA CGM and MSC have both put September dates against revised Panama-related charges on Asia to US East Coast and US Gulf cargo. The amounts differ, and so does the basis on which they are quoted.

Carrier	Charge	Effective	Scope
CMA CGM	Panama Canal Adjustment Factor, $500 per TEU	September 10, 2026	Far East to USEC and US Gulf, all cargo. Bangladesh to USEC excluded.
MSC	Panama Canal Surcharge: $149 per 20ft, $297 per 40ft, $376 per 45ft	September 12, 2026 (by gate-in date)	Southeast Asia, China, South Korea, Japan to USEC and USGC, all cargo types, until further notice.

Sources: carrier advisories as reported by Container News, August 13, 2026. Confirm the per-container application against your own tariff or contract.

Read the basis column before comparing the numbers. CMA CGM quotes per TEU, so a standard 40ft box carries roughly $1,000. MSC quotes per container size, and its 40ft rate is $297. On the same lane, in the same week, that is a spread of about $700 per 40ft container between two carriers for the same underlying constraint. MSC’s charge also keys off the gate-in date rather than the sailing date, which moves the deadline earlier than a booking date would suggest.

If a surcharge that keys off gate-in date means checking each booking’s actual gate-in against a carrier effective date one at a time, walk through how ops teams track container-level milestones across carriers in a single view.

Suez capacity is returning to Asia to Europe. MSC announced on August 24 that it would partially restore Suez Canal transits on selected East-West services after a review of security and operational conditions, covering the Jade and Tiger services between Asia and the Mediterranean, the Albatros service between Asia and northern Europe, and the Himalaya service between India and the Mediterranean. Five named sailings start the transition and MSC is implementing it service by service, with contingency arrangements allowing individual voyages to be adjusted. MSC is the fourth major carrier to bring services back, after CMA CGM, Maersk, and Hapag-Lloyd. Suez routings are shorter than the Cape of Good Hope alternative, so returning services free up vessel capacity on a lane whose rates are already drifting down. For cargo booked on the four named services, it is worth checking whether Cape-routing-related surcharges still apply.

Drewry’s Cancelled Sailings Tracker dated August 28 counts 45 blank sailings across the major East-West trades for weeks 36 through 40, covering August 31 through October 4, a 6% cancellation rate. That is down from 49 cancellations at the same 6% rate in the prior tracker, so the absolute count is easing while the proportion holds.

What This Means for Shippers

If you’re shipping transpacific, the spot table is the least useful line on this page. Shanghai to New York is down $174 per FEU and Los Angeles is unchanged, so the market benchmark is roughly where it was last week. Two things landing in the next two weeks will not appear in the August 27 comparison. CMA CGM’s $500 per TEU adjustment applies from September 10 and MSC’s revised canal surcharge from September 12, both on Far East to USEC and Gulf cargo. On a 40ft box, CMA CGM’s adjustment equates to roughly $1,000 — about 11% of the current $9,333 Shanghai-to-New-York WCI benchmark. Cargo gating in after the applicable carrier dates should be budgeted with the surcharge included.

The schedule side moved as well. Shanghai waiting time roughly tripled in Drewry’s most recent read, and Panama daily slots contract again on September 15. For late-September East Coast arrivals, the buffer belongs in the budget and in the transit plan.

If you’re shipping Asia to Europe, the decline slowed. Rotterdam gave back 3% and Genoa 2% after several weeks of steeper falls. Carriers doubled blank sailings on the lane to four for the coming week, the standard move to defend a rate floor. Watch whether next week’s read holds, because capacity withdrawal that fails to stop a slide usually precedes a discount round rather than a general rate increase. Returning Suez services add effective supply to the same lane, which works against the blank-sailing defence. If a Mediterranean or North Europe contract is up for renewal, the trend still favours the shipper.

This is the quietest week the index has printed in over a month, and almost every live variable behind it affects when cargo arrives rather than what the index says it costs. Shanghai congestion, the two Panama step-downs, continued uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz, and a Suez restoration still being implemented cautiously all sit on the schedule side. Panama is the exception, because it is now doing both. Drewry’s guidance to shippers is to book early and allow additional lead time to reduce rollover and transit-delay risk.

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