Everything you need to know about Maritime Freight

Rate Adjustment: As we have anticipated in previous reports, freight rates have begun to adjust downward after reaching their peak in early February. For example, the general price index for freight from China has decreased by 10%, while on the Shanghai-Santos route it has fallen by 6%.

Impact of the Red Sea Conflict: The conflict in the Red Sea remains a concern, especially after a recent attack that claimed three lives following a Houthi attack. This could lead to more shipping lines diverting their services around the Cape of Good Hope, which could delay the normalization of rates.

Medium-Term Outlook: As new capacity is added, the problems caused by route changes are expected to reduce. Therefore going forward, we could see an improvement in shipping reliability, which was affected again in January.

Despite these challenges, logistics company DHL maintains a relatively stable outlook for March, highlighting excess demand on some of the main routes, but a relatively balanced outlook for Asia-South America.