Global demand for ocean freight container shipping hit an all-time record in May amid soaring spot rates and severe port congestion.
The 15.94m TEU (20-foot equivalent container) transported by ocean in May beats the previous record of 15.72 TEU set in May 2021, according to data released by Xeneta and Container Trades Statistics.
The record levels of demand in May brings year-to-date volumes to just under 74m TEU, which is an increase of 7.5% compared to the first five months of 2023.
TEU-miles have increased by 17.9% globally in 2024 to date compared to the same period in 2023. This is mostly driven by the Red Sea diversions and longer sailing distances around the Cape of Good Hope.
However, the trades most impacted by the Red Sea diversions are the major deep-sea trades out of the Far East, which are also the trades which are driving the record-breaking levels of ocean container shipping demand.
Had ocean container carriers continued to utilise the Suez Canal, TEU-miles would have increased by a lesser, but still significant, 8.6% in 2024 to-date.
Stausbøll said: “Earlier this year we saw increasing ocean freight shipping spot rates and wondered if there really was a capacity crunch or whether it was a case of the market panicking unnecessarily following the escalation of conflict in the Red Sea.
“We can now clearly see in the data the squeeze on capacity was very real, especially when you factor in the TEU-mile increase on top of the record-breaking global volumes and port congestion.
“It also demonstrates how much oversupply of capacity there would have been in the market in 2024 had the Red Sea conflict not occurred.”
