Ocean freight rates on key Asia-US container routes have risen sharply as the Middle East conflict creates disruption far beyond the region itself.
According to shipping platform Xeneta, spot rates on Far East to US trades remain significantly higher than one month earlier, as disruption in the Middle East continues to affect Southeast Asian transshipment hubs.
As of 23 April, Xeneta’s market average spot rate from the Far East to the US West Coast stood at $2,857 per forty-foot equivalent unit, while the Far East to US East Coast rate reached $3,871 per FEU.
Rates from the Far East to the US West Coast increased 22% over the past month, while Far East to US East Coast rates rose 19%.
Even the trans-Atlantic route from North Europe to the US East Coast, which does not directly call at Asian transshipment hubs or Middle East ports, surged 46% over the same period.
Xeneta analyst Peter Sand said the crisis has moved from being a regional disruption to a global market event.
The Middle East conflict has forced carriers to rapidly redesign service networks, including the use of land bridges such as Jeddah and alternative ports on the Indian Ocean coastline.
On European container trades, some of these new routing patterns have now stabilised, helping rates ease from their immediate post-conflict spike.
Compared with one month earlier, average spot rates from the Far East fell 6% to North Europe and 13% to the Mediterranean.
However, Sand warned that this does not mean the market has returned to normal. The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to container shipping, the ceasefire remains fragile and alternative routing continues to add cost.
Longer transit times, weaker schedule reliability, congestion at alternative hubs and higher surcharges are expected to keep rates above pre-crisis levels until there is stronger confidence in safe transit through Hormuz.
Carriers are also managing capacity carefully. Four of the five major fronthaul trades saw capacity decline, including a 6.6% reduction from the Far East to North Europe.
This combination of crisis-driven congestion and deliberate supply management is keeping rates elevated across multiple trade lanes, even where the direct impact of the conflict appears limited.
