Freight rates rose at high levels in August

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 , global shipping logistics has been disrupted . Since the second half of last year , it has become a normal situation in the industry that one box is hard to find and the freight index(SCFI) topped 2,000 points for the first time last November , broke through 3,000 at the end of April and 4,000 in mid-July.

The SCFI index mainly reflects spot market prices.The index was below 1,000 for most of the decade before the outbreak .

Container rates continued to risen in August. A number of shipping companies , including Star Line,Matson,and Habor&Loyd , have further imposed peak season surcharges or congestion charges at destination ports.

Data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange showed the latest SCFI index hit a new high of 4,281.53 points , up 1.3 percent from the previous week and 314.24 percent from a year ago . According to statistics , the SCFI index has risen for 14 consecutive weeks .