The Freightos China-to-North America-West Coast container freight index prints each week, and freight forwarders from Shanghai to Long Beach open the file before the workday's first quote goes out.

Updated weekly, the index aggregates carrier-quoted prices for 40-foot equivalent units (FEU) on routes between major Chinese loading ports — Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen and Qingdao — and the US West Coast, anchored by the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Together, the two California ports form the busiest US container gateway by volume, handling roughly 17 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2023.

For shippers moving consumer electronics, furniture, apparel and home goods out of Chinese origin stations, the Freightos weekly print is one of three widely watched spot measures, alongside the Drewry World Container Index and Xeneta's XSI. Importers and forwarders use it to time spot bookings and benchmark annual contract renewals.

What the Index Measures

The China-to-West Coast benchmark covers the transpacific eastbound trade, the lane that handles more container traffic annually than any other ocean route. Spot rates move on vessel capacity, peak-season demand, fuel cost and tariff policy. The Freightos print publishes both the headline rate and directional change, giving subscribers a same-week view of carrier pricing behavior on the route.

The benchmark excludes long-term service contract rates, which dominate the annual bookings of large US retailers and importers. The spot market — typically 10-20% of total transpacific volume in normal conditions — sets the marginal price that shapes contract negotiations in the months ahead.

How Carriers and Forwarders Use the Index

Container lines including COSCO, ZIM, MSC and Wan Hai deploy most of their Asia-US West Coast capacity into the San Pedro Bay complex, with secondary calls at Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma. For these carriers, the transpacific eastbound is consistently one of the top-revenue trades in their networks, and the Freightos spot print sets the marginal price for non-contract cargo.

Forwarders serving Chinese SME shippers — where contract tenures run in weeks rather than the annual agreements typical for US retail importers — rely on the Freightos number to set short-tenure customer quote windows and FAK rate sheets. A $100-per-FEU weekly swing translates into landed-cost variance on mid-sized import books running 200-500 FEU per week.

For shippers, even modest weekly moves of $100 per FEU translate directly into landed-cost variance on those weekly import programs. For carriers, the transpacific eastbound is the highest-margin trade in most liner networks, and any shift in the Freightos print flows through quarterly per-TEU earnings within weeks. For forwarders, the same data points into customer-facing rate sheets for FAK, LCL and project-cargo bookings out of China.

What to Watch in the 2026 Negotiations

Annual service contracts between large US importers and major ocean alliance carriers historically settle in the late autumn and winter months, with most renewals taking effect in early spring. In the 90 days before those negotiations, both sides monitor the Freightos weekly print alongside Drewry and Xeneta to calibrate opening offers.

The transpacific handles roughly a quarter of global container traffic by several industry counts, and a single-digit percentage shift in the China-West Coast spot rate moves quarterly landed-cost positions at mid-sized US importers by measurable basis points.

For the 2026 contract season, with carriers continuing to absorb newbuilding deliveries and US importers navigating tariff and near-shoring pressures, the Freightos benchmark will retain its role as the weekly reference for the Asia-US West Coast spot market. Shippers entering renewals will pair the Freightos trend with Drewry and Xeneta to set opening positions, while carriers will manage capacity on the lane against the same weekly signal.