Container Shipping Rates

Route is one of the biggest cost drivers. The ocean freight price for a 20ft container from Shanghai to Los Angeles runs $2,100-2,500 because it crosses one ocean with direct service. The same container to New York costs $2,800-3,400 due to Panama Canal transit and toll charges. East Coast routing via Suez Canal as an alternative is typically slower and depends on canal status and capacity. The Panama Canal is central to Transpacific routing decisions — it carries more than 40% of US container traffic valued at roughly $270 billion annually (FMC Chairman Louis Sola, Senate testimony, January 2025).

Sea freight rates follow a general annual rhythm. Rates often soften after Chinese New Year as factory output drops and capacity adjusts. Rates can rise during peak retail stocking windows in late summer and fall. The magnitude and timing of these moves vary by year and depend on capacity discipline, fuel costs, and demand. The page shows current public-index movement and AiDeliv Daily Index alongside it — use both for the current cycle's actual behavior rather than relying on a fixed seasonal percentage rule.

FCL (Full Container Load) means you rent an entire container at a flat rate regardless of fill level. LCL (Less than Container Load) means cargo shares space with other shippers, priced per CBM or per kg. FCL often becomes more economical as volume increases, commonly around the mid-single-digit CBM range, depending on lane and cargo density. LCL fits smaller volumes but can create more handling and consolidation complexity — shared containers involve coordination with multiple shippers' timing and documentation, which can extend processing windows. For Amazon FBA sellers, FCL is generally preferred when inbound volume justifies it.

Common ocean freight fees added to base rates include Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF), Low Sulfur Surcharge (LSS), Terminal Handling Charges (THC), documentation fees, security-related fees (AMS, ISF filing), and peak-season surcharges. These charges vary by carrier tariff, terminal, port, lane, and contract terms. Some forwarders bundle everything into one number; others itemize, making the initial quote look lower until invoicing.

Port congestion can increase landed cost through demurrage, detention, chassis fees, drayage delays, missed appointments, and inventory stockout risk. Demurrage exposure in 2026 stacks two layers: ocean carrier demurrage commonly runs $255-575 per day, terminal or MTO storage adds a second tier (for example, $52-211 per day at YTI POLA depending on day bracket), and chassis fees add $22-55 per day. Treat congestion as a cost-risk signal that requires active monitoring, not a fixed percentage add-on. Check current pressure on the AiDeliv Port Congestion Tracker.

Sudden rate spikes happen for traceable reasons: cancelled sailings, geopolitical disruptions, tariff front-loading, fuel volatility, and port congestion cascading across a lane. Carrier alliances and cooperation networks shape deployed capacity on major East-West corridors, so blank sailings or schedule changes can move market rates quickly. During spikes, use public indexes for direction and AiDeliv auction bids to test what carriers are actually willing to accept on your shipment.

On the combined Far East-North America (Transpacific) route in January 2026, Alphaliner- attributed data reported by Ship & Bunker showed the three major alliances deploying about 73.7% of capacity, led by Ocean Alliance at 35.3% (Evergreen, COSCO Shipping, CMA CGM, OOCL), Premier Alliance at about 21.4% (ONE, HMM, Yang Ming), and Gemini Cooperation at roughly 17.0% (Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk). MSC operated independently with about 10.3% share. The implied remaining non-alliance share was about 16.0% (derived as the residual after the three alliances and MSC; the same source reports ZIM at about 7.3% within that residual). These figures refer to combined Far East-North America deployed capacity, not global fleet share, and not a separate West Coast/East Coast split. Shares can vary by port range, service string, and week.