A summer of sold-out ships awaits as sea cargo chaos intensifies

(Bloomberg) -- Container shipping rates are heading higher again, driven to new heights by unrelenting consumer demand and company restocking from Europe to the U.S. that are exhausting the world economy’s capacity to move goods across oceans.

After peaking in late 2020 and not budging much through the first quarter, the rate for a 40-foot container to Los Angeles from Shanghai hit US$4,403 last week, the highest in Drewry World Container Index data going back to 2011.

Cargo shippers on less-traveled transatlantic routes are feeling the sting, too: Rotterdam to New York surged to a record US$3,500.