Global shipping prices hit record highs

2026-08-18

The cost of transporting goods through many sea lanes has risen sharply in the past month due to war and climate change. This could lead to an increase in commodity prices. The Financial Times reports.

According to the publication, Alexandre Saveris, CEO of Belgian shipping company CMB Tech, said: “This is an unprecedented situation. Factories will have to stop production or look for suppliers in more expensive regions of the world.”

According to oil price agency Argus, the price of oil transported from the Persian Gulf to Asia reached $ 15.22 per barrel on August 10, which was caused by the threat of attacks on tankers belonging to the Saudi side transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This is the highest level since the agency began conducting such assessments in 2005.

Since then, freight rates for tankers sailing through the Black Sea to the Mediterranean have reached their highest levels.

The cost of slots through the Panama Canal has risen to a record high due to falling water levels and high congestion caused by a strong El Niño phenomenon, which is also a side effect of the conflict in the Middle East.

Drought in Europe has also caused the water level in the Rhine, a river that is critical to Germany's heavy industry, to drop dangerously low.

Freight rates for the Rhine, which runs through Cologne, Duisburg, Frankfurt and Karlsruhe, have reached their highest levels since 2012.

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