The international shipping sector suffered severe suffering during the past year due to the impact of the Corona pandemic that struck most countries of the world in a way that halted or greatly reduced the international trade process due to the precautionary measures taken by many countries because of the virus against the spread on their lands and not allow the virus to enter through commercial shipments. Those shipments coming from China and its neighboring countries, where the Republic of China is the first country in which the Coronavirus appeared and began to spread from them to the underdeveloped countries of the world. We will review with you the impact of the Coronavirus on international shipping rates, which have been severely affected by the lack of international trade traffic.

The suffering of the international shipping sector

Many international studies and statistics indicate that 80% of international trade movement takes place through sea freight. China and the countries close to it, such as South Korea and Singapore, are among the most important countries producing many goods and products on which international trade movement depends greatly, especially since each of these countries includes Its territory has many huge ports, which represent great importance for international shipping operations. And because China is the first country in which the Coronavirus appeared, and from there it spread to its neighboring countries and then to the rest of the world, many countries, especially European countries, and America, have taken strict measures regarding commercial shipments and ships which coming from China and Asian countries for fear that these shipments carry the virus Or that the crew of that ship had become infected. This led to the disruption of many shipments and commercial vessels until their safety was fully assured, which led to an increase in costs and an increase in the prices of the sea and air freight by up to 50 percent in general. The epidemic also changed people's consumption, as services retreated, sales of products for homes and gardens increased via the Internet, then partial closure measures and then complete closures taken by many countries exacerbated the crisis as the economic conditions of many countries, as well as the citizens of those countries, were affected by the closure measures. This led to a lack of demand for many products due to the lack of material resources, which also affected industrial and trade operations and the various types of international shipping worldwide, whether land freight, sea freight, or air freight.

Container shortage crisis and high sea freight prices

The countries of the world cooperatively sought to follow many measures that would ease the crisis, especially in the sectors of trade, industry, and international shipping, such as strictly following precautionary measures and rules of social distancing and trying to digitize many procedures and steps in a manner that ensures reducing direct interactions between people, reducing crowding and direct communication. In addition to that, many countries imposed medical procedures for those coming to them, such as the necessity of medical swab procedures to ensure their safety, which is what supported the start of the return of commercial movement between countries of the world. However, the rise in global consumption and the increase in exports from China and the countries of Asia in particular after the middle of last year surprised the shipping companies that used all their fleets around the world, which led to a decrease in the number of ships and containers as all that the global shipping companies own is in The seas, which led to the waiting of shipments around the world in the ports, the delay in their arrival, and the high prices of sea freight globally.