Supply Chain Research

Container shipping rates surged in June with a 56.7% jump in Asia-to-U.S. West coast routes and a 23.% increase in east-coast U.S. bound rates compared to the end of May. That’s been driven by restricted capacity, recovering demand after COVID-19 and an increase in bunker fuel costs. One freight forwarder has noted “we may well see a peak season surcharge after all” while another stated that higher demand “has left us no choice but to put some vessels back in service and to increase carrying capacity – how long can we manage to ride the wave?” Hapag-Lloyd and UPS have both removed tempor...