WCI, SCFI and NYFI Diverged: What to Re-Check in This Week’s Container Quotes

Drewry’s World Container Index fell 3% to US$4,255 per FEU in its 30 July assessment, its third consecutive weekly decline. One day later, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index rose 4.67% to 3,205.97 points, ending a three-week slide of its own.

Both benchmarks contain signals from Asia-origin spot markets, but they do not measure the same route basket. They pointed in opposite directions during the same week. If you quoted a customer and cited a benchmark, it matters which benchmark you used and which lane the cargo actually moves on.

What Each Benchmark Actually Reported

Index or lane	Latest reading	Week on week
Drewry WCI composite	US$4,255 per FEU	Down 3%, third straight fall
WCI Shanghai to Los Angeles	US$5,739 per FEU	Down 2%
WCI Shanghai to New York	US$7,578 per FEU	Unchanged
WCI Shanghai to Rotterdam	US$4,677 per FEU	Down 3%
WCI Shanghai to Genoa	US$5,630 per FEU	Down 6%
SCFI composite	3,205.97 points	Up 4.67%, ending three down weeks
NYFI Asia to US West Coast	Not published in this readout	Down 1.7%
NYFI Asia to US East Coast	Not published in this readout	Up 5.1%

East-west container benchmarks, week 31 2026. Drewry figures from its 30 July assessment; SCFI and NYFI movements from 31 July market reporting.

The US East Coast readings show why the benchmark name matters. Drewry recorded its specific Shanghai-to-New York route unchanged at US$7,578 per FEU. The NYFI’s broader Asia-to-US East Coast benchmark rose 5.1%.

Those are not identical corridors. NYFI combines transactions from a wider Asian origin region, while the WCI lane measures Shanghai to New York specifically. Even so, the directional split is operationally relevant. Xeneta’s chief analyst described US East Coast rates as remaining sticky at a high level and said it was the only major trade where shippers were still asking carriers for additional capacity.

Spot quotes from Asia to the US West Coast were reported in a range of US$5,700 to US$6,250 per FEU, still more than three times the levels seen before the US-Iran war.

Why the Readings Split

The divergence does not mean that either index is necessarily wrong. The benchmarks are built from different markets and inputs.

Drewry’s WCI is a volume-weighted composite of eight major east-west routes. It includes bunker charges and a defined set of ocean surcharges. Four of its constituent routes originate in Shanghai, while the rest include backhaul and transatlantic trades.

The SCFI measures Shanghai export spot rates across a broader set of destination markets. Many individual routes are quoted per TEU, while its US East and West Coast routes are quoted per FEU. Its composite is reported as an index-point reading rather than a freight rate per container.

The NYFI is transaction-based. It uses actual spot and short-term shipments that have gated in or sailed, rather than quoted rates, unexecuted bookings or long-term contract rates.

A composite is an average, and an average compresses the spread between individual lanes. That is less consequential when the lanes move together. It becomes a material source of basis risk when one corridor carries a capacity or geopolitical premium and others do not.

The Intra-Asia Index Shows the Mechanic

Drewry’s Intra-Asia Container Index held flat at US$956 per FEU in week 31, halting a five-week decline. The disclosed lane movements underneath that flat composite went in opposite directions.

Intra-Asia lane	Latest reading	Week 31 move
Shanghai to Jebel Ali	Not published in this readout	Up 6%
Shanghai to Jakarta	US$1,405 per FEU	Down 5%
Shanghai to Laem Chabang	US$890 per FEU	Down 4%
Shanghai to Manila	US$447 per FEU	Down 3%
Ho Chi Minh City to Shanghai	US$65 per FEU	Steady
Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Shanghai	US$117 per FEU	Steady

Selected Drewry Intra-Asia Container Index lanes, week 31 2026. The 18-route composite held at US$956 per FEU.

Shanghai to Jebel Ali was the Gulf-exposed route highlighted by Drewry, and it rose 6%. At the same time, the named Shanghai routes to Jakarta, Laem Chabang and Manila all fell.

The public summary does not disclose enough route-level movements and weighting data to show precisely how the 18 constituent routes produced the flat composite. It does show that a shipper moving cargo from Shanghai to Jebel Ali faced a rising assessed spot market during a week when the headline index did not move.

If you are explaining why a customer quote did not follow the composite, the answer usually sits in lane-level and shipment-level detail that the headline average was not designed to carry. Walk through how ops teams track that exposure lane by lane.

The Number That No Rate Index Carries

While the rate benchmarks moved in different directions, average vessel waiting time at the Port of Shanghai rose to 77 hours in week 31, from 39 hours the week before.

Drewry attributed the deterioration to the combined effects of typhoons Noul and Bavi across southern and eastern China. Typhoon Dolphin could compound the backlog if its eventual track disrupts eastern Chinese ports, but as of 3 August it had not yet reached the region. On India’s west coast, monsoon storms disrupted berth schedules at JNPT and contributed to vessel backlogs.

The additional 38 hours represents time waiting for a berth, not additional time spent at berth. It can delay discharge, container availability, inland connections and final arrival.

It does not automatically create demurrage or detention. Those charges depend on when the container becomes available, when the applicable free-time clock begins, and how quickly the cargo and equipment are collected and returned. Congestion can still increase the exposure if the delayed vessel arrival compresses the time available for downstream transport or causes a missed appointment.

Fuel was also moving ahead of the weekly freight benchmarks. WTI crude rose 24% month on month to US$84 per barrel across July. Drewry said carriers were planning emergency fuel surcharges of US$38 to US$75 per TEU on short-haul regional lanes from the first week of August, alongside the deepsea August surcharge cycle already in effect.

What to Re-Check This Week

Name the benchmark and methodology in your quote. WCI fell 3% while SCFI rose 4.67%, a 7.67-percentage-point divergence in their weekly movements. Because the indices cover different route baskets, that is basis risk rather than a direct disagreement over one identical market.
Pull Shanghai-to-Jebel Ali bookings out of the average. The assessed lane rose 6% while the broader intra-Asia composite held flat.
Check US East Coast allocations against more than one source. Drewry’s Shanghai-to-New York lane was unchanged, the broader NYFI Asia-to-US East Coast index rose 5.1%, and Xeneta described the trade as sticky and capacity-sensitive.
Re-check ETAs for Shanghai loadings. The port-wide average reached 77 hours waiting for a berth, but it is a congestion indicator rather than a forecast that every vessel will wait exactly 77 hours.
Recalculate last free day from actual container availability or discharge. Apply the carrier, terminal and contract rules governing the individual shipment rather than shifting every date by the port-wide waiting-time average.
Confirm which August fuel surcharge applies to short-haul regional legs separately from deepsea legs, including the effective date, shipment event, equipment basis and trade-lane scope.

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