shipping rates

On Sunday (June 14th), President Trump announced a peace deal with Iran via a Truth Social post: The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all! I hereby fully [...]

When I first started writing about international shipping more than 15 years ago, a rollercoaster was the best metaphor to describe the industry, with its volatile, up-and-down freight rates for [...]

Last week, we blogged on the opening of the Hormuz Strait, but with the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran feeling tenuous and Iran warning of possible mines in the water and [...]

With the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, Iran has reopened the Strait of Hormuz, but shipping traffic through it is reportedly at a trickle. According to a Reuters article by [...]

This is a guest post by Jake Herrera. During each year, shipping volume swings wildly. It only takes weeks for freight availability to go from comfortable to tight. This often happens when [...]

Competition on the waters of international shipping looks to be shrinking again as the world’s fifth-largest ocean freight carrier, Hapag-Lloyd, made a buyout deal yesterday to acquire the [...]

You can put a fork in it; international shipping’s peak season is done. And despite a little freight rate increase last week, it’s been done. At least on the ocean freight side. Air [...]

Are the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden attacks over? News broke this week indicating they’ve stopped, which has enormous implications for international shipping. No Attacks Since Peace Deal Since [...]

Air Freight Surge A couple weeks ago, the trade war between the U.S. and China escalated. China announced export controls expansions and President Trump responded with a threat of increasing [...]

Are we finally going to see a return of normalcy for container ships moving through the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea to utilize the Suez Canal in international shipping? Rerouting ships down and [...]

Next month, large fees on Chinese-built ships calling on U.S. ports goes into effect. They’re not going to be as enormous as U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer initially [...]

In the wake of surging shipping demand from China to the U.S., Chinese ports are experiencing congestion. That should push transpacific freight rates, which are already climbing fast, to go even [...]

We are one week away from "Liberation Day." That's what the Trump Administration calls April 2nd, when reciprocal tariffs go into effect. The reciprocal tariff strategy from the Trump [...]

This is a guest post by Victor Kowalski. Freight. That one word – simple, sturdy, even a little old-fashioned – belies a world of complexity that’s likely keeping your average logistic manager [...]

Those importing from Asia, China in particular, will see a dip in capacity from carriers here in February, according to maritime intelligence company eeSea. Blame is falling on carrier alliance [...]

Freight rates, particularly Asia to U.S. West Coast (USWC) freight rates, have increased by more than 100% since June. That's not too surprising, since we're in the peak season, and freight rates [...]

It's no secret that the international shipping industry, even for all the supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks, did very well during the pandemic. There was a shipping demand boom, but now [...]

This is a guest post by Robin Kix. [NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: This post isn't necessarily about international shipping as Universal Cargo's blog is normally focused, even though international [...]

Air freight conditions for shippers are now starkly different from what they were during the pandemic. For the most part, this difference is positive for shippers. Air space and availability is [...]

Now that most countries are easing COVID-19 restrictions, ocean shipping processes might improve. However, as of the first half of 2022, you also have to consider the impacts of the [...]