Review of Maritime Transport 2022 (UNCTAD)
A surge in consumer spending – especially for goods ordered online – combined with supply chain disruptions and logistics constraints pushed container freight rates to five times their pre-pandemic levels in 2021. The surge in container shipping costs, which peaked in early 2022, sharply increased consumer prices for many goods.
Likewise, freight rates for dry bulk – unpackaged raw materials like grains – increased due to the war in Ukraine, the prolonged pandemic and supply chain crisis. An UNCTAD simulation projects that higher grain prices and dry bulk freight rates can lead to a 1.2% hike in consumer food prices, with higher increases in middle- and low-income countries.
Although freight and charter rates have fallen since mid-2022, they are still above pre-COVID-19 levels. And rates remain high for oil and natural gas tanker cargo due to the ongoing energy crisis. In an increasingly unpredictable operating environment, future shipping costs will likely be higher and more volatile than in the past.
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