Trans-Pacific container shipping rates to the West Coast have surged 19% to more than $5,700 per forty-foot equivalent unit, even as the U.S. and Iran negotiate an end to hostilities that severely disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. A report published Tuesday by FreightWaves finds that despite the gradual reopening of the critical shipping chokepoint, the global container market continues to face a cascade of issues pushing rates higher. The conflict may be winding down, but the freight market can't seem to catch a break.
Daily transits through the Strait of Hormuz collapsed from pre-conflict levels of around 100–130 vessels per day to single- or low-double-digit daily crossings during the crisis, with some analyses reporting traffic at under 5–10% of normal levels at peak disruption, according to the FreightWaves report. Several trackers show hundreds of vessels remain stranded inside the Persian Gulf. East Coast rates surged 13% to $7,400 per FEU, with the daily level now above $8,000 and exceeding the peak season high in 2025. Asia-Europe rates climbed 13% to $4,700 per FEU, while Mediterranean routes jumped 16% to $6,300 per FEU—both above last year's peak season highs. Total ocean bookings to the United States are about even year-over-year through June 23, according to SONAR's Ocean Volume Index.
One of the largest vessels to exit the strait was the 16,000-TEU HMM Daon, which transited on Monday, noted analyst Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime, according to the report. Freightos research chief Judah Levine said in a note to clients that fuel costs are easing as oil flows recover: "Bunker prices are down 25% from March highs and 12% since early June, while jet fuel is down more than 40% from its peak – though both remain well above pre-war levels." The report notes that soaring costs and fears of tightening supplies at key bunkering centers had led shipping lines to implement emergency fuel surcharges on top of contractual adjustment mechanisms, leading at least one analyst to warn that shippers could be paying twice for increased fuel costs.
The rate increases stem from multiple converging pressures beyond the strait's reopening. Frontloading importers are rushing to get ahead of Asia tariff deadlines and higher prices slated for July by manufacturers, driving up demand even as vessel capacity remains constrained. Carriers are targeting $1,000–$3,000 per FEU increases for July, though the report suggests that "resistance to increases may be stronger than what carriers have encountered so far if demand is approaching its peak." The combination of fuel surcharges, tariff-driven frontloading, and lingering supply chain disruptions from the conflict has created a perfect storm for shippers. Even with bunker prices falling and the strait gradually reopening, rates are climbing past last year's peak season levels—a sign that the market's problems run deeper than any single geopolitical crisis.