Saad Ullah
WCI shipping rates from Shanghai are exploding right now, with the Shanghai–New York route breaking $8,000 per container. Traders are freaking out.
Shipping Costs From Shanghai Are Getting Pretty Wild
So there's this post on X from @SethCL that's basically calling out all the doom-and-gloom predictions about supply chain chaos. He's saying everyone's overreacting, but here's the thing – the actual shipping prices are telling a completely different story. The latest numbers from the Drewry World Container Index (WCI) show that container shipping rates from Shanghai are absolutely skyrocketing across pretty much every major route.
The WCI for Shanghai–New York just smashed through $8,000 per 40ft container, which is nuts – that's the highest of all the routes they're tracking. Shanghai–Rotterdam and Shanghai–Los Angeles are sitting just under $7,000, while Shanghai–Genoa isn't far behind. All four of these routes have been climbing like crazy since mid-February 2025, and the charts look pretty intense.
Wall Street Got It Wrong, But Something's Definitely Happening
In his tweet, @SethCL is basically roasting economist Torsten Slok, who apparently said "I expect to see empty shelves in the next 30 days." The guy's response? "Never over/react to a Slok outlook… Wall Street has your back… way back!" Ouch. That's a pretty brutal takedown of all the panic predictions that haven't actually happened yet.
But here's where it gets interesting – while we're not seeing empty shelves anywhere, the markets are definitely reacting to something. You can see it crystal clear in these WCI shipping prices. Every major trade lane from Shanghai has been shooting up, especially after February 2025. So maybe the predictions were wrong about timing, but the underlying pressure is real.
The Shanghai–New York Route Is Becoming a Real Problem
The WCI price from Shanghai to New York just blew past $8,000 per 40ft container, and it's been accelerating like crazy since early April 2025. That kind of jump usually means either shipping capacity is getting tight or demand is going through the roof – either way, it's gonna hit consumer prices eventually.
Meanwhile, Shanghai–Rotterdam has climbed above $7,000, and Shanghai–Los Angeles is right there with it. So yeah, maybe all those "empty shelves" predictions were bogus, but these price jumps are definitely making importers and retailers nervous. When shipping costs double or triple, that money's gotta come from somewhere, and it usually ends up being passed along to consumers.
The bottom line? Wall Street economists might've been wrong about the timing and severity, but something's definitely brewing in the shipping world, and it's probably gonna affect all of us sooner or later.
Saad Ullah
