International shipping, with its ocean freight sector in particular, is a volatile industry. Freight rates go up and down like a roller coaster. But not in the last year. Ocean freight rates have [...]
High freight rates have become a motif in Universal Cargo's blog over the last year. That's not surprising as freight rates have climbed and climbed, breaking record after record, much to the [...]
Over the last year, international shipping has been marked by container and equipment shortages, port congestion, high demand, lost containers, rolled containers, and – of course – outrageously [...]
A couple months ago, we blogged about carriers making billions with these high freight rates shippers are being forced to choke down. Well, that was nothing. Wait until you hear this.... If [...]
This is a guest post by John Nicks. The pandemic triggered many changes in various industries all across the world. One of the most affected areas is shipping costs. As the prices go up, the [...]
Mike Wackett wrote an article in the Loadstar that might make shippers consider ocean freight spot rate indices and the fees ocean freight carriers have been charging to guarantee service as [...]
It’s a classic case of good news, bad news. After Tuesday’s bad news blog about Yantian Port’s partial shutdown lingering and creating a “worse-than-Suez” level of [...]
An intriguing story broke in the international shipping industry at the start of this week. A shipper made a move that has the potential to be disruptive to ocean carriers, who run the world's [...]
We've been watching freight rates rise to new heights, breaking record after record, for a year. Is it possible for freight rates to get worse? Yes. And they have. After a period of months with [...]
Maritime research firm Drewry is predicting the same thing we've been saying here in Universal Cargo's blog for a while: high freight rates aren't going away with the pandemic. Mike Wackett [...]
Soaring freight rates for the last year plus have significantly cut into shippers' profits. Not surprisingly, these sky-high freight rates have had the opposite effect for carriers. But just how [...]
As the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach hit record volumes of imports for March and freight rates reached a new peak, experts are telling us that the days of overcapacity, and the lower [...]
If you thought freight rates couldn't get any higher, carriers responded with, "Hold my beer." We often focus on transpacific freight rates, with the prevalence of importing from China, which [...]
Does the Jones Act have a negative impact on the economies of noncontiguous U.S. states and territories? We'll look at arguments concerning just that, with an eye specifically on Hawaii, in [...]
We continue today with a series taking a deep dive into the outlook of international shipping in 2021. Part 1 focused on high ocean freight rates, cargo volume trends, and the potential for a [...]
Transpacific freight rates, and freight rates in general, were astronomical in 2020, rising and rising until, at last, they reached a plateau around the end of September/beginning of October. [...]
International shipping in 2021 continues right where 2020 left off. That sentence sounds obvious, but what it means is an abnormal start to the year when it comes to ocean freight shipping, and [...]
Transpacific shipping is strong right now. Despite predictions by experts earlier in the year that 2020 would see no international shipping peak season, we have had and are in a strong one. Will [...]
It looks like the practices of ocean carriers during the pandemic and the resulting record-high freight rates have caught the attention of American and Chinese maritime regulatory [...]
How about a positive headline for 2020? It's a great year for ocean freight carriers in the international shipping industry. Transpacific cargo volume continues to surge here in the peak season, [...]
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