- There have been attacks by Yemen's Houthis on ships in the Gulf of Aden. This has caused tension and made ships take a longer route around Africa. African ports can't handle too many ships at once, leading to delays and containers not being returned on time.
- Brazil and Mexico are planning to put extra taxes on Chinese electric cars starting in July. Because of this, car makers like BYD, a big company from Shenzhen, are rushing to send over 100,000 vehicles to these countries. Other electric car companies are also using a lot of shipping space. This has filled up the shipping docks with cars.
- In the U.S., there's talk about future taxes of 50-60% on Chinese goods, including electric cars. This has made some Chinese companies invest more in South America. Also, buyers are trying to get products early before these new taxes kick in, making this year's busy shipping season start sooner.
- Big shipping companies are using these reasons to raise their prices. For example, Cosco announced they will charge $1600 more for a small (20GP) container and $2532 more for a large (45 CTR) container starting May 15th. They had already increased prices before.
Oil prices and changes in the value of the U.S. dollar might also affect shipping costs in the coming months.
