Sea Freight: What Should We Expect by the End of 2021?

The rates achieved for the transport of containers by sea continue to break record after record, with new price peaks on the Asia-Europe-America routes

After the peak period of the global pandemic, the strong rebound in demand for consumer goods has thrown the system into crisis, placing strong pressure on both shippers and producers.

It also seems crazy to write data on the costs of containers which, on the Asia-Europe line, reached 18,000 USD, while on the Asia-United States route even 22,000 USD , according to data reported by Freighttos. It is perhaps good to remember that before the pandemic period the costs for the same services were around 3,000 USD.

Among the causes we have talked about in recent months through various articles, it can be highlighted that families, between the pandemic and post-pandemic periods, have changed their lifestyles, reducing expenses for travel and restaurants, and increasing the purchase of furniture, appliances and household items.

These changes have changed the approach to spending, creating a very strong demand for goods, especially from China to Europe and the United States, with the consequent incredible rise in demand for containers for the transport of all this goods.

As a result, shipping companies, taken by surprise, were unable to satisfy all of the growing demand, also due to the extraordinary weather problems during the winter in the United States and the temporary blockage of the Suez Canal.

For these reasons, if we look towards the last part of the year , the situation of maritime transport costs does not give rise to hope for a decrease in the short term, as importers are stocking up for the Christmas and Thanksgiving period and are willing to support this incredible burden so as not to compromise year-end sales.

The problem that import & export companies face is not only the situation of enormous financial costs, per unit sold due to logistics costs, but also the numerous continuous and prolonged delays in the delivery of orders.