According to Xeneta — the ocean and freight rate benchmarking and intelligence platform — rates are expected to surge in June, driven by ongoing conflicts, port congestion and early import surges.Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta, highlights the rapid and dramatic increases in spot rates, saying, 'On 1 June, spot rates will reach a level we haven't seen since 2022 when the Covid-19 pandemic was still wreaking chaos across ocean freight supply chains.
Sand further emphasizes the complexity of the current market dynamics. 'There is a cocktail of uncertainty and disruption across global ocean freight supply chains at present, and this is fuelling the spot rate increases.'He noted that the recent spike has taken the market by surprise, including chief executive officers of major ocean freight liner companies. Sand underscores the significance of this surge by comparing it to the Red Sea crisis peak.