The ocean freight industry stabilized in 2017, with rates remaining relatively steady after the turmoil of the previous year from the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping Co., according to a report from online freight marketplace Freightos.
Spot market rates generally trended downward throughout the year, starting with a high of $2,100 per industry standard 40-foot-equivalent unit on the China to West Coast lane and $3,549 on the China to East Coast lane in February, according to Freightos. But as the jolt of the Hanjin supply chain disruption became a distant memory, prices began tumbling again.
