Topic hub
The headline rate is not the price. Fuel surcharges, peak surcharges, remote area fees, residential delivery adders, dimensional weight rules and the annual general rate increase all sit on top, and carriers adjust them on their own schedule. A rate that looked competitive in January can be materially worse by June without the base ever moving. This tag tracks surcharge announcements from the express carriers and the postal channels, general rate increases, and the dimensional weight changes that quietly reprice every bulky product in your catalogue. Sellers who audit their invoices find errors more often than they expect. Sellers who never audit them fund the difference. If you have not repriced your shipping in a year, you are almost certainly paying a number nobody negotiated.
Ningbo-Zhoushan port supplied LNG, methanol, and B24 biofuel to different ships on the same day on 30 September.
Shanghai to Rotterdam spot rates rose 6% to $3,522 per 40ft this week, ending a three-month downward trend.
Shipping lines claim they are bearing the cost of alternative fuels and lower-emission vessels as shippers resist paying green premiums.
Ningbo-Zhoushan Port supplied LNG, methanol, and B24 biofuel on the same day for the first time in China.
China to North Europe air freight rates fell 7% week on week, while China to North America rose 3%, widening the gap between the two lanes.
Evergreen’s general manager says strong US import demand will hold transpacific rates above Asia-Europe levels through the end of 2026.
Shanghai to Genoa rates fell 43% since July, but Sogese tells importers to plan on at least eight days of delay, not the on-time rate.
Sea-Intelligence finds spot rates on Asia-Europe and transpacific have diverged from broader container market prices since the pandemic.
3 stories
Shanghai Port handled a record 5.135 million TEU in September, proving the typhoon backlog is gone. Dry bulk rates are crashing, but container shippers should ignore the noise and focus on the Q4 rush.
4 stories
Asia-Europe spot rates rose 6% to 7% this week, ending a three-month decline. US political pressure on Cosco could lead to slower port processing for their vessels.
5 stories
Beijing is investigating brake failures in intelligent vehicles, which may trigger wider quality audits for EV exporters. Hong Kong is expanding air cargo capacity to 2 million tonnes to secure its hub status.
4 stories
China to North Europe air rates fell 7% last week while transpacific air rose 3%, so your lane choice now decides your margin. The EU’s abolished €150 customs exemption is showing up in the data, with China and Hong Kong imports at Frankfurt down 1.8% and 7.4% in September. China’s September trade surplus hit $133.5 billion, which keeps tariff pressure from Brussels and Washington running hot into 2027 contract season.
4 stories
The split is now official: Evergreen says transpacific rates will stay supported by US import demand into the new year while Asia-Europe stays weak, and the Port of LA’s record 1.42 million TEU September backs that up. If you ship to the US, expect firm rates and book early. If you ship to Europe, you have negotiating room, but typhoon knock-on delays are still degrading schedule reliability on both trades.
5 stories
Far East to Europe schedule reliability collapsed to 4% on-time in September with 9.9 days average delay, the worst month since 2021, so date your stock on the delay, not the booking. China to US West Coast spot rates hit $7,717 per FEU, four times last September, and analysts warn spot indices no longer reflect the wider market. Plan arrivals with at least eight days of buffer and keep rate commitments short.
4 stories
A US fighter jet disabled the Panama-flagged freighter Ocean Molica in the Gulf of Oman on 10 October for allegedly running the Iran blockade, the fourth merchant ship hit since enforcement resumed in July. If any of your cargo touches Gulf routing or Iranian-linked tonnage, your risk exposure changed this weekend. Closer to home, China’s logistics activity index came in at 51.5% for September, a fifth straight month of expansion, so domestic capacity and rates stay firm into peak.
4 stories
China has agreed to cut hybrid car exports to the EU by more than half over four years, the first time Beijing has moderated exports before a trade fight. Tanker hire now costs more than a SpaceX launch, which will feed into fuel surcharges on every lane. Asia-Europe 2027 contract talks have started with shippers holding the stronger hand.
4 stories
Golden Week is over and transpacific spot rates have barely moved, with Asia to US West Coast at $8,322 per FEU and delays of seven to 10 days at Shanghai. Asia-Europe rates keep falling, down 34% from July on Far East to North Europe, which hands you leverage in 2027 contract talks. Book transpacific space now, negotiate Europe hard.
5 stories
US container imports hit a record 2,546,261 TEU in September, with China-origin volume up 4.5% on August to 924,454 TEU, so demand on your lane is strong even as spot rates to Europe fall by a third or more since July. Tender season favours you right now: carriers are cutting long-term deals and even forwarders are getting better rates. If you ship to FBA, Amazon’s two new China to US air options give you a 7 to 15 day replenishment window with no inbound placement fee.
3 stories
Carriers have blanked 39 sailings between 5 October and 8 November across the three main east-west trades, cutting capacity by 5% at the exact moment Chinese factories reopen and export volumes gear up. Teu-mile demand fell for the first time since January, driven by Golden Week blanks, newbuild deliveries, and more ships shifting back to Suez. If you have stock ready in the next two weeks, expect allocation games and premium pricing.
4 stories
From 19 October 2026, Maersk will hit any 20ft box over 25 tonnes into Germany and Poland with a $400 Heavy Load Surcharge, down from 28 tonnes. Maersk and CMA CGM are also ending their ASAS2 Asia to East Coast South America loop after the 8 December Shanghai sailing, and ONE is folding its Hong Kong regional HQ into Singapore from April 2027. Check your heavy 20ft bookings this week.
5 stories
Container line executives say September congestion at Asian ports stripped out functional capacity on the trans-Pacific, and the peak season now has a longer tail than anyone planned for. Spot rates from the Far East to the US plateaued as Golden Week began on 1 October, with Xeneta calling the post-Hormuz peak for 2026. If you still have Q4 cargo on the water or unbooked, expect slower sailings and fewer open slots through October.
5 stories
Almost all global carriers will trial Suez transits on Asia-Europe sailings in October, with the Premier Alliance’s One Continuity first through on 19 October. Shanghai’s on-time berthing fell to 12% in August and Asian schedule reliability sits at 32%, so whatever route your box takes, pad your lead times. Maersk is adding $250 to $500 per container to South Africa and Mauritius from 15 October.
4 stories
The US-China trade truce now runs past 10 November and trans-Pacific spot rates hit a 2026 high of $8,400 per FEU to the West Coast, so book your Q4 space before Golden Week ends rather than after. The Hormuz closure is approaching its eighth month and looks set to permanently strip transhipment traffic from Jebel Ali and Khalifa. In the air, hi-tech freight at 3m tonnes has overtaken Chinese ecommerce as the main growth engine, which means more competition for the capacity you rely on.
4 stories
Asia-Europe spot rates fell 4% last week to $3,485 per 40-foot container on Shanghai-Rotterdam, and carriers responded by announcing October rate hikes starting 19 October. Transpacific rates moved the opposite direction, climbing 5% as capacity tightens. The US-China tariff relief list covers $30bn of goods each way but excludes most of what ecommerce sellers move.
4 stories
China and the US announced tariff cuts on $30bn of goods each, covering 1,696 product lines, but the deal lands too late to change weakening transpac rates and does not touch the port fees on Chinese-built and Chinese-operated vessels, which restart 10 November unless USTR acts. Soybeans remain subject to an additional 10% tariff in China, and the whole deal still requires domestic legal procedures before it takes effect.
3 stories
The Trump administration extended its suspension of port fees on Chinese-built vessels until 10 January 2027, giving you two months of breathing room before shipping costs rise again. Transpacific spot rates hit $11,445 per FEU to the US east coast this week and analysts expect another uptick in early October before Golden Week capacity comes back.
4 stories
Chinese ports handled a record 7.3 million TEU in the week ending 20 September, 9% above last year and accelerating from 6% earlier this month. The surge preceded the Trump-Xi summit and appears driven by exporters rushing goods ahead of possible tariff increases. If you have Q4 inventory in a factory right now, you are not alone and the freight schedule reflects that.
3 stories
A defence cargo control failure shows how easily chain of custody breaks in mixed commercial networks. Transpac container rates are set to hold through the off-season because Panama Canal cuts and port congestion still choke effective capacity. China’s LPG buyers are back to pre-trade-war volumes by splitting cargoes to defer duty, a tactic worth watching if Section 301 rates climb again.
3 stories
The transpacific lane and the Asia-Europe lane moved in opposite directions in week 38, with Shanghai to North America spot rates climbing 28% whilst Shanghai to North Europe dropped 5% to $2,425 per FEU. If you have stock on the water to Rotterdam, you caught a falling rate. If you are booking LA or New York right now, you are paying the highest spread between the two trades on record.
4 stories
Container spot rates from China to the US East Coast reached $11,259 per FEU on 17 September, just 11% below the pandemic record set in January 2022. FedEx adds demand surcharges on China imports starting 21 September, with per-pound fees climbing to $0.91 on express services. If you have stock on the water, your landed cost just changed again.
4 stories
Maersk is pulling its TPX transpacific service on 29 September, the last sailing before Golden Week, and keeping it suspended through Q4. The Fed raised rates by 25 basis points to 4%, the first increase since 2023, which makes dollar-denominated freight bills more expensive if you are holding stock on credit. WiseTech says ocean freight risk on Asia-North America and Asia-Europe will stay elevated for the next four weeks, with schedule reliability deteriorating.
3 stories
Far East to Europe reliability collapsed to 6% on-time in August with average delays of 8.2 days, matching the worst of the pandemic. Four typhoons laid up 1.1 million TEU across Ningbo and Shanghai, and global reliability is now 29% after three months of decline. If you have stock on the water, add ten days to whatever your forwarder told you.
3 stories
China opened the Pinglu Canal today, carving 560 kilometres off the inland journey from Nanning to the Beibu Gulf and creating a direct waterway to Vietnam. Separately, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index rose for the seventh consecutive week, reaching 3,662 points and approaching the all-time high set in 2024. If you ship from southwestern China or through Guangzhou, routing just changed.
4 stories
Europe sources 67% of its active pharmaceutical ingredients from outside the region, with China and India controlling upstream supply, and that dependency is structural rather than temporary. Four more Gemini Asia-Europe services return to Suez westbound, improving schedule reliability but adding political risk. Freight costs on Gulf crude to China hit $162/mt, yet Beijing will not adjust fuel pricing, squeezing refiner margins.
4 stories
CMA CGM will impose a $4,000/FEU peak season surcharge on 1 October for Asia to US routes, double its current rate, as port congestion in Shanghai and Ningbo leaves vessels waiting twelve days and backlogs exceed 4 million TEU. The disrupted schedules are pushing congestion downstream to south China and southeast Asia, keeping capacity tight through Golden Week.
3 stories
Four consecutive typhoons created berthing delays lasting two weeks across Shanghai, Ningbo and Yantian, and those delays will persist into October. Transpacific spot rates now sit 7% below COVID peaks at $10,955 to the US East Coast while carriers blank eight sailings next week to hold the line. The Red Sea is open again for some services, but the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and Gulf rates have broken every previous record.
4 stories
Air cargo out of China and Hong Kong split hard in August: US volumes up 13% year on year, Europe down 14%, with Hong Kong to Europe worst at minus 30%. Ocean rates are easing off peak but bunker fuel at June levels means they will not fall far, and typhoon congestion is keeping capacity tight.
4 stories
COSCO Shipping ordered 18 containerships worth $3 billion with deliveries starting 2028, which will add 283,000 TEU to capacity on your lanes. The same week, two US officials accused COSCO of using concealed equipment aboard vessels to collect military communications, which COSCO denies. Neither story changes what you do Monday morning, but the first one tells you capacity will stay loose through the end of the decade, and the second one adds political noise to an already complicated relationship with the world’s third-largest carrier.
3 stories
CMA CGM signed a joint development project at SMM 2026 to build decision-support systems for container vessels that keep human oversight but reduce crew workload. The project is technology-neutral and does not aim to remove crews, but it will assess which onboard functions can be automated or assisted. If you run a small catalogue and rely on predictable ocean transit, watch this: the carriers are building the tools to cut operating costs without cutting capacity, and that changes the economics of blank sailings and schedule reliability.
4 stories
Vessel waiting time at Shanghai and Ningbo hit 10 days this week, with ships facing two weeks of departure delays. The congestion stems from seven typhoons hitting China since July plus rerouting from the Strait of Hormuz closure, and it will worsen through October as peak exports stack up. If your container is booked for a September sailing from these ports, assume it leaves in October.
3 stories
Trans-Pacific spot rates rose to $9,791 per FEU on the China to US East Coast lane last week, up 2% week-on-week, with typhoons closing Shanghai and Ningbo adding to congestion that carriers cannot unwind. If you have cargo moving in September, expect omitted port calls and shifted transshipment routing that will add days to your transit.
3 stories
Ships wait 10 days to berth at Shanghai and Ningbo after Typhoon Saudel added to weeks of congestion, holding up 3.92 million TEU globally. Carriers are shifting 19% of Asia-Europe capacity back through Suez, and if the full fleet follows, global container demand could contract 8.7% in the first half of 2027 even as underlying cargo volumes grow.
Shipping from China? Talk to a team that is there.
Talk to us