Volatile Freight Rates in Maritime Container Industry in Times of Crises

Abstract

In recent years, the stability of supply chains has been undermined due to many disruptions. Although it is normal for the disruptions in supply chains to occur periodically, they have great impact on the rise of the costs and they create strong imbalances in business. For years, most world trade has been performed by maritime transport due its cost-effectiveness. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global supply chain like nothing before, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has only deepened the crisis that is affecting the global supply chain. The focus of this paper has been placed on volatile freight rates in the maritime container industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the consequences of these crises on the changes of the prices of consumer goods in the European Union.