The situation at UK’s ports is slowly reaching boiling point: at the beginning of the holiday season, a state of emergency had been declared in Dover – triggered by crowds of tourists, leading to endless traffic jams. Shortly afterwards, the dockers from Felixstowe announced their readiness to strike after their employers offered only a 7% hike in pay. After last year’s increase of 4.5%, and an expected inflation rate of 13%, this would amount to a reduction in real wages. In the meantime, the workers at Felixstowe are putting their money where their mouth is: the announced strike is to last eight days, between 21 and 29 August. Colleagues in Liverpool are likely to follow suit.

In Germany, persistently low water levels and thus the reduced loading of freighters is still causing problems for inland navigation. In some places, water levels of the Rhine are at new historic lows – in Emmerich, for instance – or only a few centimetres away.

On the Middle Rhine, navigation had to be suspended for a while – the reason was not low water but a cargo ship’s engine damage. The passage between St. Goar and Oberwesel was blocked until midday on 17 August.

Because of the lack of water, transports of energy carriers are now to be shifted increasingly to rail and even given priority there. A corresponding draft law is being worked on at full speed in Berlin to ensure that power plants and refineries are supplied. The use of freight wagons that had been discarded due to noise-protection standards is also now being considered.

Related: Summer heat goes to heads of Lufthansa pilots / Additional threat of British port row

Ship congestion off California during the past few months, on the other hand, has dissipated. But the congestion is being replaced by a yawning emptiness, because far fewer imports are flowing into the US than usual. Supermarket chain Walmart, for example, recently cancelled orders worth several billion US dollars and wants to empty its warehouses first.

Freighter captains on the other side of the globe have to put up with detours. China’s military exercises around Taiwan want to be bypassed widely, which currently leads to about half a day’s delay on this important route. Experts from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) believe, however, that the disruption is unlikely to affect trade with Germany.

Nevertheless, freight rates between the Far East and Europe have begun to reflect the disruptions. In the 15-21 August week, a 40-foot container (FEU) from Northern Europe to China cost USD 750 (EUR 728), 25% more than in the previous week. From Southern Europe to China, the fare is USD 1,250, an increase of 13.6%. In the opposite direction, however, the fare for both routes is lower or unchanged: from China to Northern Europe, the discount is 4.8% to USD 10,000; to Southern Europe, it is a rollover at USD 11,000.

From the US East Coast to Northern Europe, the FEU price dropped 10.2% to USD 700, and vice versa, it became 3.7% more expensive, to USD 8,500. The only downward trend in both directions was between China and Western US: outward FEU cost USD 9,800, down 2%, while backward FEU was down more sharply by 7.2% to USD 6,500.