# Container freight — ALERT (improving)
id freight · Energy & Commodities · horizon acute · checked 2026-11-01T11:52Z · at this level since 2026-10-31T11:26Z · stale after 2026-11-02T23:52Z
Assessed by an AI model (Anthropic Claude) against published rubrics; not a forecast or advice · CC BY 4.0 · https://canary.danleech.com/s/freight

Value: WCI $4,429/FEU (29 Oct)
Rated on: WCI > $4,000/FEU, or > +60% in a month.
Situation: US–Iran war and Gulf energy shock [us-iran-war]

Container rates above $4,400/FEU despite a 3% weekly fall

Why it's at this level: Drewry's World Container Index fell 3% to $4,429 per 40ft container on 29 Oct, still above the $4,000 Alert line; Shanghai–Los Angeles was $7,514 and Shanghai–New York $9,631. Gulf disruption and rerouting keep capacity tight. The next WCI reading is due 5 Nov.

What this means for you: High shipping costs typically feed into prices of imported goods with a lag of a few months.

Why it matters: Container rates feed through to goods prices months later; spikes are an early inflation and supply-chain warning.
What moves it: Chokepoint diversions, capacity, demand, port congestion, tariffs front-running.

Rubric — Alert: WCI > $4,000/FEU, or > +60% in a month. | Watch: WCI $2,500–4,000/FEU, or +30–60% in a month. | Normal: Drewry World Container Index < $2,500/FEU and 1-month change < +30%.

Sources:
- Shipping Telegraph — Drewry WCI decreased 3% (week 44) (2026-10-30) https://shippingtelegraph.com/freight-news/drewry-the-world-container-index-decreased-3-this-week-44-2026/