An online shopping boom is fueling ships across the Pacific

In the last few months, American consumers have been going mad for online shopping, with the result being a buoyant shipping industry across the transpacific.

In these coronavirus times, consumer demand for household goods has increased significantly, with people looking to improve their homes given the amount of time they’re having to spend there!

American imports of household appliances from South Korea rose by 51% in August compared to the same time a year ago, the third consecutive month of increases. The shipment of other electronic goods such as laptops and tablets also increased dramatically.

The knock-on effect of this soaring demand, has been the surging price of transpacific sea freight rates, reaching the highest on record this month. With more goods to ship, more space is needed, and when space becomes a premium, prices go up!

As of this week, the cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to Los Angeles was $3,922, a huge increase on the low of $1,318 in March this year.

This is great news for shipping companies who suffered extensively as global trade plummeted in the early months of the pandemic. Despite the fact that Covid-19 is still prevalent across the world, these micro rebounds are showing that the global economy is getting back on track. It would seem that in the absence of a vaccine, the world is accepting instead that we must find ways to live our lives as normal, whilst still taking precautions to avoid further catastrophe.