Container freight rates and availability: with freight rates subject to volatile markets and ongoing disruption, is pricing uncertainty the new norm?
Fewer industries by comparison have seen such fluctuations in demand for and supply of its services as container shipping since the implementation of COVID-19 lockdowns globally in the first quarter of 2020.
The lockdowns had the effect of shuttering industry, until precautionary measures and COVID-19 secure working practices could be implemented to halt the spread of the virus.
This created a situation whereby a holding pattern developed; demand slumped, output declined, and shipping, specifically container freight, dwindled.
Once the global populous had adjusted somewhat to this new era of working from home and a near ban on travel, demand for goods slowly increased. With nowhere to go and no one to see, consumers purchased all manner of goods, electronic or otherwise to see them through their summer, and subsequent winter, of discontent.
