Red Sea Crisis Could Trigger Container Shortage

The Red Sea crisis may trigger container shortages, which could spread to Asian ports by mid-to-late January, and port congestion as large ships have already found it hard to dock at domestic ports, pushing up shipping costs, Yicai.com reported, citing market insiders. The space on the China-Europe freight trains for January were fully booked as an alternative, with freight rates rising 10-20% m/m. A Chinese supplier in Ningbo city said they had to accept price reduction requests from North African customers due to rising shipping costs, which would lose 20% of their net profit.