On 5 June 2026 the analytics firm Xeneta put average spot rates from the Far East to the US West Coast at $3,933 per forty-foot container (Xeneta, via gCaptain, 5 June 2026). That is up 20% in a single week, and 109% above where the lane sat before the Strait of Hormuz closed to commercial traffic at the end of February. Rates have more than doubled in fourteen weeks. If you source from China and ship into the United States, the freight number you budgeted in winter is now wrong by half.
Drewry's World Container Index, the benchmark most procurement teams quote, jumped 23% in the same week to $3,433 per forty-foot box (Drewry, via The Loadstar, 5 June 2026). Shanghai to Los Angeles rose 31% to $4,565. Shanghai to New York rose 20% to $5,505. The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index closed at 2,726.48, its fifth straight weekly gain and its highest reading in years (The Logistic News, 5 June 2026). Every big carrier on the lane lifted prices in the same week.
Why a closed strait two oceans away is raising your China freight
The Strait of Hormuz has been shut to commercial shipping since 28 February (Freightos, 2 June 2026), which keeps carriers sailing the long way around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through Suez. Those longer rotations swallow vessel capacity, and the ships that would normally add slack to the Pacific are not there to add it. Congestion at the big transshipment hubs of Singapore and Port Klang is compounding the squeeze as lines rewire their networks around the blockage. Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime put the mechanism in one line: the Red Sea crisis has not eased because the Hormuz detour around Africa keeps eating capacity (The Logistic News, 5 June 2026).
On top of the capacity drain, peak season arrived early and importers are front-loading. Part of June's rush is shippers pulling cargo forward to beat the 1 July publication of carriers' third-quarter bunker adjustment factors, which are expected to jump on war-elevated fuel costs (The Loadstar, 5 June 2026). Others are moving ahead of US tariff changes expected in July and the demand bump around the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Carriers pushed general rate increases and peak-season surcharges through on 1 June and have more booked for mid-month. The US East Coast is no calmer, with Asia to East Coast rates up more than 90% on pre-crisis levels, and Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean are climbing on the same forces (Global Trade Magazine, 6 June 2026).
What it does to the order you already placed
Take a $200,000 order of home goods or hardware moving in two or three forty-foot boxes. The ocean freight line alone has moved by several thousand dollars since you signed the proforma invoice. On DDP terms your supplier or forwarder fronts that cost and bills it back to you, often as a surcharge you never budgeted. On FOB you carry it directly the moment the box is booked. Either way, the landed cost you quoted your own customer was built on a rate that no longer exists, and the gap comes straight out of the margin on goods that have not even shipped.
What to do this week
Confirm what your contracted allocation actually covers before the 1 July bunker adjustment lands, because spot exposure on this lane is where the damage is. Ask your forwarder in writing which surcharges apply to cargo booked now versus cargo that sails after 1 July, and get the cutoff date in the same message rather than over the phone. If you have orders that can ship in June, bring them forward, because the front-loaders are not guessing. And rebuild your landed-cost math at this week's number before you price your next season, not on January's rate.
The move that costs the most is assuming this snaps back on a headline. Rates have held above pre-war levels through every ceasefire rumour reported since March. The Hormuz situation is volatile and could ease quickly, but carriers have shown they will hold rates as long as capacity stays tight and peak season runs hot. Plan for the surcharge, and treat any relief as upside.
When a freight market moves this fast, the importers who stay calm are the ones who can see their own shipments. Full Production Management keeps every booking and its surcharge terms in the WhatsApp thread you already follow, with a Mila agent in China confirming your forwarder's numbers before the boxes move. Run your next order somewhere you can watch the freight line move, with every surcharge visible before it reaches the invoice. If you are weighing who carries that cost, our DDP shipping guide and our note on China to Europe shipping rates sit alongside this one.
Sources: gCaptain, Peak Season and Hormuz Crisis Fuel New Surge in Container Shipping Rates (Xeneta data), 5 June 2026; The Loadstar, A wave of container spot rate rises amid peak season and tight capacity (Drewry WCI), 5 June 2026; The Logistic News, Container spot rates explode as early peak season drives sharp global surge, 5 June 2026; Global Trade Magazine, Container Freight Rates Surge, 6 June 2026; Freightos, Container rates starting to spike on peak season rush, 2 June 2026.