Asia's Shipping Capacity Alert

The rise in shipping costs, cause cost of goods to spike

Freight volumes from Asia have recently spiked following the relaxing of restrictions across Europe, which has resulted in heavy pressure on capacity and short shipments.

Carriers have introduced numerous blank sailings since the pandemic began to avoid the costs associated with near to empty voyages. These blank sailings have reduced the capacity to align with the massive reduction in volume over recent weeks.

However, a surge in recent bookings, believed to be due to the lifting of restrictions, the flood of PPE volume and airfreight volumes switching to ocean, have led to more demand than the available capacity.

While carriers scramble to reinstate previously blanked voyages, the market looks set for a temporary lack of space, meaning there is a high risk of short shipments and rollovers in the next 2-3 weeks.

We at Cube continue to work incredibly hard to ensure goods are in stock at all times but the shortage of spaces is likely to impact many imports.

With the lack of capacity, carriers have increased shipping rates significantly meaning we will see a short-term spike in cost of goods.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and update on developments, and ask customers to be on alert incase they need to have contingency plans in place to cover the additional risk of delays and a potential rise in selling prices of goods.