Recently, due to the epidemic and other factors which caused delays in ship congestion, the freight rate of containers from Asia to Europe hit a record high.


On May 17, the Platts container freight rate from North Asia to Northern Europe rose to US$12,000/FEU, an increase of US$1,500/FEU from last week. This increase is an almost ten-fold increase from the $1,300/FEU assessed on this route during the same period last year.


The latest increase in freight rates is due to the fact that demand on major global routes continues to exceed supply. There are fewer empty containers in the shipping industry now than in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is mainly because once the containers are unloaded from the ship, it takes longer to transport containers to the port due to shortage of dock workers, poor inland transportation, and epidemics. 


The whole world sees the increase in freight rates due to the shortage of containers and ships. Some containers need 4 weeks to return to the port after unloading, but it only took about 7-10 days in early 2020.

A freight forwarder said, "The rate has risen again, and the customer satisfaction has never been reduced. These rates are too ridiculous. No matter what you pay, there is no guarantee of the product delivery. This is the essence of the delay."

Although people hopes to alleviate these problems as soon as possible, it now appears that the increase will continue at least until the end of the third quarter.