Freight Rates Plummet

You may recall that container shipping rates skyrocketed during the pandemic. Rates jumped by a factor of 5-10x depending on the source of numbers. This article notes that rates dropped by 90% since early 2022. While that may be good news for producers (and shoppers), it is not good news for ship operators who are finding current rates unprofitable. The graph below (compiled by Statista) shows just how much rates rose and then fell between January 2019 and August 2023.

The graph above might be cut and pasted into your slides when you cover Place (Chapters 10 and 11 in particular). This post is partly an FYI, though it could be useful to discuss the implications of the rise and now the fall in shipping prices.