MSC Files New Far East-Africa Rates for September as Demand Firms
Rates run from $3,750 for West Africa to $5,850 for Mozambique and Somalia on a 20ft basis.
MSC has filed new freight all kinds rates on its Far East-Sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean trades, effective 1-14 September, with origin coverage spanning all Far East ports including Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia, and calls at hubs such as Ningbo.
On a 20-foot dry van basis, the new rates run from $3,750 for West Africa base ports up to $5,850 for Mozambique and Somalia/Berbera. On 40-foot high-cube equipment, the range widens further: $5,100 for West Africa base ports against $8,000 for Somalia/Berbera, a spread that reflects both distance and the thinner service density on the East African coast compared with the more heavily served West African ports.
South Africa is filed separately at $4,800 per 20-foot dry van and $5,800 per 40-foot high-cube. East Africa and Mombasa stand at $4,750 and $6,050 respectively, while the Indian Ocean and Port Louis trade is set at $4,750 and $5,650. All the published levels sit before applicable surcharges and local charges at both origin and destination, meaning the all-in cost to a shipper will run higher than the headline figures.
Freight-all-kinds filings of this kind are a routine part of how carriers manage capacity and demand across a trade lane, adjusted on a roughly fortnightly cycle rather than announced as standalone news. What makes this filing worth noting is the direction: the rate spread between West and East Africa remains wide, underscoring that East African and Indian Ocean routings still carry a real premium over the more heavily trafficked West African calls, a gap that has persisted even as overall container demand into the African continent has continued to grow.
