THE recent hike in spot rates on the Asia-Europe trade has been short-lived as rates dipped again last week, down one per cent to US$1,710 per TEU, according to the latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI).

Asia-Mediterranean spot rates suffered a bigger hit for the week, falling 2.3 per cent to $1,611 per TEU.

But it was not all gloomy news on the rate front last week as carriers managed to raise rates on the Asia-US west and east coast routes.

To the west coast spot rates rose 12.8 per cent or $303 to $2,671 per FEU, while rates to the east coast increased 13.6 per cent or $477 to $3,990 per FEU.

Across all trades covered by the index, the SCFI rose 3.2 per cent to 1,369.57 points.