Overview and forecasts on trending topics
Industry and market insights and forecasts top forwarders in the world
Key figures and rankings about companies and products
Consumer and brand insights and preferences in various industries
Detailed information about political and social topics
All key figures about countries and regions
Market forecast and expert KPIs for 1000+ markets in 190+ countries & territories
Insights on consumer attitudes and behavior worldwide
Business information on 100m+ public and private companies
Detailed information for 39,000+ online stores and marketplaces
Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 150+ countries and over 1 Mio. facts.
Get quick analyses with our professional research service
The best of the best: the portal for top lists & rankings:
Strategy and business building for the data-driven economy:
Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). A paid subscription is required for full access.
Container freight rates oscillated dramatically between January 2023 and March 2024. Freight rates slumped to their lowest level on the 26th of October 2023, when the going rate for a 40-foot container was only 1,342 U.S. dollars. Since then, the global freight rate has gradually increased, hitting over 4,200 U.S. dollars in May 2024, the highest value on record.
The global supply chain is a fragile system consisting of numerous links. Disruption to one can send cascading effects down a chain that needs to function properly for the whole system to work. The COVID-19 pandemic turned out to be an event of such a magnitude to either bring to halt whole industries and supply chains, or severely reduce their efficiency. Due to its complexity and transcontinental nature, container shipping was hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the start of the pandemic, the shipping industry has had to struggle with port closures and congestions, labor shortages, difficulties with capacity utilization, as well as a lack of new shipping containers. These challenges continue to have repercussions on the industry to this day.
While costs of operating a container fleet have increased, the surge in freight rates has not served just to cover rising expenses. Container ship operators had been reporting record-high operating profit margins since the beginning of the pandemic. However, despite these high profit margins, the freight rate increase has had some repercussions. In the second quarter of 2023, main container shipping companies had an average profit margin of 8.9 percent, a decrease of almost 50 percent compared to the peak EBIT in the first quarter of 2022. Despite this decrease, some of the carriers are combating this trend by using their previous profits to increase their carrying capacity by buying new containers and ordering new container ships. However, the delivery of these newly ordered ships is still years away.
To access all Premium Statistics, you need a paid Statista Account
Show sources information Show publisher information Use Ask Statista Research Service
The Index consists of 8 route-specific indices representing individual shipping routes and a composite index. All indices are reported in U.S. dollars per 40ft Container. * Data for the 28th December 2023 was not provided by the source. EBIT stands for earnings before interest and taxes.
Leading container ship operators based on total TEUs 2024
Leading container ship operators - owned and chartered TEUs 2024
EBIT margins of main container shipping companies 2014-2023
A.P. Møller Maersk's container freight rates 2018-2023
To download this statistic in XLS format you need a Statista Account
To download this statistic in PNG format you need a Statista Account
To download this statistic in PDF format you need a Statista Account
To download this statistic in PPT format you need a Statista Account
As a Premium user you get access to the detailed source references and background information about this statistic.
As a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic.
As soon as this statistic is updated, you will immediately be notified via e-mail.
… to incorporate the statistic into your presentation at any time.
You need at least a Starter Account to use this feature.
You only have access to basic statistics. This statistic is not included in your account.
air cargo forwarders Business Solutions including all features.