Just a quick sea freight rate update for anyone wanting to ship in the coming period. We also have a quick comparison graph showing shipping rate changes over the past five years.
Freight Rates Reduce For Christmas
As the new year approaches, we have seen the rates finally reducing pretty quickly over the last few months (an early Christmas present if you will!). Over the past few months, volumes being imported to the UK from the Far East have been reducing due to the economic slowdown. As a result, shipping lines have had less cargo to fill their vessels which has led to a downward trend in prices as they fight to win business. Until consumers in the UK are able to see the light and the end of the tunnel as far as inflation and cost of living are concerned, we expect that the rates shouldn’t move too drastically up or down in 2023.
Increases in UK haulage costs will prevent the good times from fully returning but with the long-awaited reductions, freight rates are now much closer to pre-pandemic levels. However, overall, it’s great news for importers as shipping costs are much more manageable as we move into 2023.
Comparison Of Rates Over The Last 5 Years
As you can see from the below graph (and probably witnessed!) the rates took a huge hit in December 2020 with the lack of space on vessels which then caused a bidding war amongst importers to get their goods to the UK on time to avoid selling out on stock.
Since October 2021 we have seen a slow reduction in these rates with the shocking cost to import finally easing off after 2 years.
Key Dates Sea Freight Dates
If you’re planning an import over the coming weeks, here are some dates for your diary:
- Chinese New Year 2023 – The year of the rabbit hops in on the 22nd of January so expect Chinese factories to be closed from around the 16th until the 29th.
- Shippo Office Hours – We will be open as usual throughout the festive period apart from the bank holidays (26th, 27th December and 2nd January) when we will be closed.
- Shippo Warehousing – Due to haulier closures we expect that any final picks leaving before Christmas will need to be made by mid-day next Wednesday the 21st. All warehouse activities will be back to normal on the 3rd of January.
Get In Touch
Please feel free to contact us should you need anything further in the meantime.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone here at Shippo!