What is the Drewry World Container Index?

A weekly index of spot container freight rates on eight major East–West routes plus a composite, in US dollars per 40ft container, port to port.

The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, published by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, usually on Fridays. It tracks spot rates for exports from Shanghai, with a base of 1,000 points on 16 October 2009.

Why is my freight quote different from the index?

Indices are spot, port-to-port benchmarks. A quote can include inland legs, surcharges and fees the index leaves out, and contract rates move differently from spot.

Term

Container freight rate index

A container freight rate index tracks spot prices for shipping a container on the main trade lanes. The best known are Drewry's World Container Index, in US dollars per 40ft container, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, in points, and the Freightos Baltic Index. On 8 October 2026 the WCI composite stood at USD 4,351 per 40ft.

Also called Drewry World Container Index, WCI, SCFI, Freightos Baltic Index, FBXUpdated 13 October 2026

The three indices

Index	Publisher	What it measures
World Container Index (WCI)	Drewry, weekly	Spot rates on 8 East–West routes and a composite, in USD per 40ft, port to port
SCFI	Shanghai Shipping Exchange, usually Fridays	Spot rates for exports from Shanghai, in points: base 1,000 on 16 October 2009
Freightos Baltic Index (FBX)	Freightos	Median of rolling short-term FAK spot tariffs and surcharges

October 2026 readings

WCI composite, 8 October 2026: USD 4,351 per 40ft, down 2% in the week. Shanghai to Los Angeles USD 7,624, Shanghai to New York USD 10,220.
SCFI composite, 9 October 2026: 3,664.11 points, against 3,662.30 on 30 September.
Freightos, 6 October 2026: Asia to North Europe at USD 3,260 per FEU.

Worked example: from index to budget

WCI Shanghai–Los Angeles USD 7,624 per 40ft ÷ 2 = USD 3,812 per TEU equivalent — before inland transport, documentation and booking fees, which the WCI leaves out

Halving converts the index to a per-TEU figure for comparison; it is not a 20ft quote.

Who uses them

Shippers and forwarders use indices to sense the market and to check quotes, and some contracts move with them: Drewry describes the WCI as a reference for index-linked contracts. Freightos says its FBX derives from the same live rates that logistics providers use commercially.

The mistake people make

Comparing an index with a door-to-door quote. Drewry's WCI is port to port and excludes inland transport, documentation and booking fees and customs clearance; the SCFI is in points, not dollars; and each index uses its own method, so the same lane can read differently on each.

FAQ