Container shipping from Asia to the US just got more expensive

Frontloading by shippers ahead of Lunar New Year helped boost container rates on trans-Pacific services to the United States as 2025 got underway.

“Transpacific container rates climbed sharply to start the year on GRIs [general rate increases] supported by pre-Lunar New Year demand,” wrote Judah Levine, head of research, in a weekly update for analyst Freightos.

The Freightos Baltic Index found Asia-U.S. West Coast prices increased 23% to $5,929 per forty-foot equivalent unit for the week ended Jan. 3.

Asia-U.S. East Coast rates were up 13% to $6,934 per FEU.

Levine noted that the trans-Pacific rate analysis was unrelated to the labor situation on the U.S. East Coast. The Freightos update was released prior to the announcement Wednesday of a tentative contract agreement between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the Unite

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