Much like the coronavirus pandemic, and the economic disruption that it has caused, a global shipping crisis looks set to go on delaying goods traffic and fuelling inflation well into 2023. Shipping rarely figures in economists’ inflation and GDP calculations, and companies tend to fret more about raw materials and labour costs than transportation. But that might be changing.
The cost of shipping a 40-foot container (FEU) unit has eased some 15% from record highs above $11,000 touched in September, according to the Freightos FBX index. But before the pandemic, the same container cost just $1,300.
With 90% of the world’s merchandise shipped by sea, it risks exacerbating global inflation that is already proving more troublesome than anticipated.
Peter Sand, chief analyst at the freight rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, does not expect container shipping costs to normalise before 2023.