South Korea reports increase in container shipping costs to US, Europe for third consecutive month

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that the latest shipping data show the costs of shipping containers from South Korea to the United States and Europe have increased for the third consecutive month.

Data provided by the Korea Customs Service revealed a 28.1 per cent month-on-month increase in the average shipping cost of a 40-foot container from South Korea to the US East Coast. An increase of 39.2 per cent was incurred during the same period along the South Korea to Europe route.

The average cost of shipping the same size of container between South Korea and the US West Coast also climbed for the fourth consecutive month, with a month-on-month increase of 20 per cent being reported.

The continued rise in costs is being driven by shipping companies opting to avoid the Red Sea and other sea lanes in the Middle East amid ongoing attacks on vessels by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The switch to alternate routes has resulted in longer transit times, which then increase costs.

Conversely, average container shipping costs from the US to South Korea decreased in July, with month-on-month drops of 10.7 per cent and 3.5 per cent in the costs of transporting containers from the West Coast and the East Coast, respectively.