Container-rates had a generally strong month in February, having risen by 3% in the month and by 5% on average for routes out of China. All lanes except those to Australia improved, led by a 6% improvement in services to the U.S. east coast. It may be too early to celebrate though as a nine week run of improvements ended in the last week of the month, while Shanghai outbound rates slumped 10%.

Rates at least kept pace with the 3% rise in bunker fuel costs, suggesting a degree of discipline on pricing that was missing in the fourth quarter of 2017. Tankers and bulk carriers have be...