Shipping Costs Surged in First Half of 2024

Hamburg, Germany, July 10, 2024-Globally, shipping costs have surged in the first half of 2024, defying the traditional off-season lull, reports Container Xchange

Asia and Middle East and ISC (India Subcontinent) region were the regions that witnessed a significant uptick in container prices since October 2023 due to the Houthi attacks.

On the other hand, container prices remained stable or decreased, reflecting an abundance of containers in traditional import destinations. These prices have now begun to move upwards. Our mid-year forecaster gives a review of global container price developments to offer greater visibility into the trends observed during the first half of the year.

Average container prices continue to rise through May and in June. Hong Kong and Vietnam experienced the biggest month on month percentage spike of 35% from May to June for trading containers, followed by China (27%), Russia (24%), Taiwan (23%) and Malaysia (23%). 

India also faced a rise in average container prices spiking by 21% from May to June 2024. In Singapore, while there has been a steady rise of 31% in container prices since October 2023, the increase from May to June 2024 was a more moderate 7%.

In terms of the impact of the Houthi attacks, China stood out by a significant leap at 78% container price hike from October’23 to June’24, followed by Hong Kong (77%), Spain (42%), Uzbekistan (40%) and Thailand (35%). 

Malysia (29%), Netherlands (29%), Taiwan (28%) and Vietnam followed the pack of biggest price increases since October for container prices. (40 ft. high cube, cargo worthy containers).

China and Hong Kong have the highest average container prices currently across the world, namely, $3600 and $3124, respectively.