The dominant theme of this week’s article is, you guessed it, water. Parts of northwestern Europe have been struggling to cope with the impact of a series of Atlantic storms, which have dumped rain or snow on already saturated ground, leading to floods, particularly in parts of Germany and France. The regions of Lower Saxony and Thuringia in Germany, and Brittany and Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France, have been experiencing harsh flooding.

Not too far away, the disruption to shipping in the Red Sea, has been causing delivery delays, and last but not least, the Panama Canal is drought-stricken, yet again. If only we could redistribute the water worldwide… 

But as things stand, patience is our only friend. Shipping companies, however, are once again being paid handsomely due to the chaos. The many diversions of container ships from the Red Sea and Suez Canal towards the Cape of Good Hope and around the dry Panama Canal is increasing journey times, fuel consumption, and insurance premiums. At the ports, fears of congestion like those at the height of the pandemic are causing unrest in the market. All of this is driving up freight prices, and sharply, even where there is just the right amount of water under the keel – for example from Asia to the west coast of the US.

Freight rates for 1-7 January; price for a 40-foot container
Route	Change from prior week	USD	EUR
China - US West Coast	+16.3%	2,500	2,273
China - US East Coast	+16.1%	3,600	3,273
China - Northern Europe	+23.5%	2,100	1,909
Northern Europe - China	+40%	700	636
China - Southern Europe	+20%	2,400	2,182
Southern Europe - China	+40%	700	636
US East Coast - Northern Europe	+16.7%	700	636
Northern Europe - US East Coast	+40%	1,800	1,636