Long Beach port congestion is at its all time high this week with about 40 container ships just waiting to get to port. Because of this, many ships have been cancelled for the time being. Now what happens in Q2 because of the current port congestion? Rates won’t be going down anytime soon and more volume will be pushed into the coming months after Chinese New Year. Spot rates will most likely remain high for a good part of Q2 which leaves importers trying to lock down contracts with these insane spot rates.
According to Freight Waves, companies have seen a 30-50% increase but is still below spot rates that are nearly quadruple contract rates.
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/importers-face-massive-hike-in-ocean-contract-costs