Industry experts have pointed at the Red Sea crisis and congestion at several ports across the globe for the spike in freight rates.
Container ships are taking additional 10 days for completing a single trip of exports bound to Europe, soaking up the shipping capacity available which is pushing up the freight rates. There has been a 20% squeeze in capacity due to the longer routes traversing across the Cape of Good Hope.
With the rise in spot rates, imports are getting costlier and exporters are unable to pass on the rise in cost to the customer as they may become uncompetitive in the market.
For instance, at present, a 20-foot container is charged at $1500 to be shipped between Bangladesh and China, an increase in rate by around 100-percent as compared to early May. China is the biggest trade partner of Bangladesh, having over $25-billion bilateral trade. Similarly, charges for movement between Bangladesh and Singapore have increased by 50 per cent to $300 per teu.
Rates on the Bangladesh-Colombo route, have surged more than 15 per cent to $ 230 to carry a container.
