Spiking ocean shipping rates, vessel backups at seaports and empty container shortages issues that damaged worldwide trade during the COVID pandemic supplychain crisis are back as the industry enters its busy season.

There is a mixed drink of uncertainty and disruption throughout global ocean freight supply chains, said Peter Sand, chief expert at pricing platform Xeneta.

It is the speed and magnitude of this current (rate) spike that has actually taken the marketplace by surprise, he stated.

On Friday, the spot rate to send out a 40-foot (12. meter) container from China to North Europe was $4,615, nearly. 3.5 times higher than on May 1, but listed below the all-time high of. $ 14,407 on January 2022, Sand stated. That rate omits $10,000. diamond tier rates for concern deliveries.

The China to U.S. East Coast spot rate was $6,061 on Friday. That rate was $2,772 on May 1 and hit a record high of $11,900. in January 2022, he said.

The container market's issues trace back to December, when. Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and other shipping lines. diverted vessels far from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to prevent. Houthi drone and missile attacks from Yemen.

Ships on the China to Europe and China to U.S. East Coast. lanes are rather sailing around Africa, cascading disruptions. and higher costs across supply chains that count on ocean vessels. that transportation about 80% of global trade volume.

Pricing specialists said spot rates would keep increasing as. merchants like Walmart and Target stock up for. the back-to-school, Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations, and as. manufacturers and importers enter products to prevent possible. tariff hikes.

In the near term we will see a considerable crunch in the. form of extremely elevated rates and extra delays, Judah. Levine, head of research at Freightos, stated.

Port blockage in China and other Asian countries is. pressing an over-stretched container shipping market that is. currently reeling from shortages in vessel space and equipment,. analytics company Linerlytica stated in a recent report.

Singapore, the world's second-busiest container port, is now. experiencing extreme hold-ups. Some ships are avoiding calls there,. overthrowing schedules at downstream ports, Linerlytica said.

Empty containers also are piling up in Sri Lanka and the. United Arab Emirates, while China and Singapore are reporting. lacks, said Koray Kose, primary industry officer at. Everstream Analytics.

We're cruising into the storm, Kose stated.