Container freight rates from China to the West have increased sharply recently, in the context of a global supply chain that has been strained for months now and the outbreak of Delta variants in many parts of the world is making the transfer speed faster. global container is already slowing down even more slowly.

Accordingly, container shipping from China to the US has set a new record in history, above $20,000 per 40-foot container, as orders from retailers increase ahead of the peak US shopping season.
Consecutive storms off China’s southern coast in late July and this week exacerbated the shipping crisis.
Drewry maritime consulting chief executive Philip Damas said: “These factors have turned global container shipping into a market in which sellers have no stock to supply, often being turned off. disruption, where transport companies may charge four to 10 times the normal price for freight.” “We have not had this problem in the transportation sector for more than 30 years,” he said, adding that “the high prices are expected to last until the 2022 Lunar New Year.”
Jason Chiang, director of Ocean Shipping Consultants, said: “Every time you think you are about to reach equilibrium, something happens that causes the shipping lines to raise prices.
“There are new (shipbuilding) orders to add to the shipping capacity, which is almost 20% of the existing capacity, but they will only come into operation in 2023, so we will not see the supply ( ships and containers) increase sharply in the next two years,” said Mr. Chiang.
Information from shipping tracking company, Freightos, shows that the price per container shipped from China to the East Coast of the US – one of the busiest shipping routes in the world – has increased by 500% in a year. Last week, this week reached 20,804 USD, compared to just under 11,000 USD on July 27, 2021. The freight from China to the West Coast of the US is also nearly 20,000 USD, while the freight from China to Europe is up. close to $14,000.