International ocean freight has risen sharply: the container shipping index (Europe) front-month futures are up more than 50% since late April. Major carriers Maersk and CMA CGM have issued multiple rate notices and several routes report acute space tightness. Market participants point to Middle East geopolitical disruptions raising shipping costs, greater supply-chain segmentation and de-risking driving restocking, and concentrated overseas pre-shipment ahead of the US/EU H2 consumption peak as

International ocean freight has risen sharply: the container shipping index (Europe) front-month futures are up more than 50% since late April. Major carriers Maersk and CMA CGM have issued multiple rate notices and several routes report acute space tightness. Market participants point to Middle East geopolitical disruptions raising shipping costs, greater supply-chain segmentation and de-risking driving restocking, and concentrated overseas pre-shipment ahead of the US/EU H2 consumption peak as key drivers. The resulting volume surge has rapidly tightened capacity, but industry sources say freight-price direction for H2 remains unclear.