Shippers are paying well over 300% more per box carried at sea, yet have to contend with the worst schedule reliability that the export-import industry has had to deal with since the advent of containerisation.
That, in a nutshell, is according to maritime research and consultancy firm, Drewry, following the release of its latest set of data.
The exact year-on-year increase, Drewry has found, is as high as 332% for the majority of lines.
However, the exorbitant increase in ocean freight rates is not reflected in schedule integrity – in fact far from it.
Transpacific traffic has recorded 401 vessels being at least 14 days late - or longer - so far this year.
For the same period, Europe-Asia traffic had 144 vessels arriving late, also by more than two weeks or longer.
Drewry also found that whereas the average delays had been around four days, the new average was now at least six days.
