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International freight insights APAC April 2026

  • 3 hours ago
  • 6 min read


Access ZG’s indicators from Asia based freight forwarders are that spot ocean freight rates offered by some carriers to Australia increased 15% for March 2026 (following a 4% decrease in February 2026). These March 2026-month international ocean freight observations show differences to the Index results stated below. This is due to rate volatility and the index lagging by up to a few weeks the information Access ZG sees in both other metrics and on the ground with Asia freight forwarder and shipping line quoted rates.

 

The China Containerized Freight Index showed spot ocean freight rates China to Australia decreased 1% for March 2026 (after decreasing 17% in February). Shanghai Containerized Freight Index which leads the China Index (as it uses data from quoted rates for the forthcoming week) to all global routes increased 37% for March 2026 time period (after increasing 1% for February 2026). This indicates further spot rate rises globally; these rises haven’t been reflected yet in the Asia to Australia route – likely a lot of it will, whether that is on the coming weeks or months is to be seen. The Drewry Composite Index that measures ocean freight spot rates globally increased 20% in March 2026 (after decreasing 10% for February).

 

There is now more divergence in international freight rate movements between trade lanes depending on specific geopolitical, demand and shipping line capacity policy.

 

The Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) futures is the best read for global future ocean shipping market forecasts (only available for Asia to Europe route). It showed a 34% price increase in April 2026 contracts (ec2604) over the past month, longer dated contracts increased about 29% on average over the past month.

 

Worldwide air freight rates per the TAC Index increased 19% for the month of March 2026 (after a 2% decrease in February 2026).

 

Getting quality early information is important in this volatile market. Prior International Freight Insights APAC newsletters under the ‘Insights’ tab and further service offering information can be viewed here: access-zg.com 

 

Reply for further discussion about how Access ZG’s service offerings can assist with increasing control of your overseas logistics operations.

 

See below for March 2026 high value article highlights:

 

The Hormuz crisis and the unravelling of shipping's operational floor

 

The Hormuz crisis has moved through three structurally distinct phases, each of which has deepened the exposure of commercial shipping in ways the industry had not previously priced. The first phase, now analytically closed, was one of fear-based deterrence: Iran calibrated its maritime pressure to reduce traffic through perception rather than physical interdiction, mirroring the Houthi playbook in the Red Sea. Container carriers maintained operational continuity under elevated war-risk premiums, and the rational-actor calculus suggested the Strait would remain functionally open even under tension. That assumption did not survive February 28. The second phase was triggered not by kinetic closure but by the collapse of the insurance architecture. The third phase introduced two structural novelties that the prior framework had not anticipated at this level of formalisation. The first is Iran's transit toll payments of up to US$2 million per voyage sought on an ad hoc, opaque basis, with Tehran signalling its intent to formalise the charge as part of any postwar settlement. Iran is asserting the right to administer and monetise a global commons. No existing insurance product, freight contract, or diplomatic framework prices or hedges this risk.

 

The master conclusion is that the Hormuz crisis has not disrupted commercial shipping it has removed the governance floor on which commercial shipping operated. Freedom of navigation, transparent tariff regulation, and the insurability of strategic passages were the three pillars of that floor. All three are now contested simultaneously. Even a ceasefire tomorrow would not restore Q2 schedule reliability, and Iran's intent to formalise transit tolls as a postwar entitlement means that reopening the Strait and restoring the pre-crisis commercial order are no longer the same objective.

 


ANL announces General Rate Increase for Asia-Oceania trades

 

ANL, part of the CMA CGM Group, has announced a General Rate Increase (GRI) for shipments across key Asia-Oceania trade lanes, effective April 16, 2026.

 

The GRI applies to shipments between:

• North East Asia, South East Asia, Indian Subcontinent, Middle East, Gulf, Australia, and New Zealand

 

New Rate Levels

The following increases will apply:

• 20' Dry (ST): USD 350

• 40' Dry (ST & HC): USD 700

• 20' Reefer (RF): USD 350

• 40' Reefer (RF): USD 700

Implementation Details

• Effective date: April 16, 2026 (based on loading date)

• Cargo type: All dry and refrigerated cargo

 


Air cargo rates surge as Gulf disruption deepens and capacity reshapes global flows

 

Air cargo rates are continuing to climb sharply as disruption in the Middle East intensifies, with capacity constraints, fuel shocks and network shifts combining to reshape global supply chains. Latest data from WorldACD shows global airfreight rates rose another 10% week-on-week in mid-March.

 


Carriers have ‘no incentive’ to rush back to Suez


Container lines have little commercial incentive to resume Red Sea transits, even if security conditions stabilise, delegates at TPM in Long Beach were told this week. 

 

 

New front opens up with Houthis entering the war

 

The Iran war’s second month has opened with a sharp escalation in threats to global shipping, as Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fired their first missiles since the conflict began, drone strikes hit the port of Salalah in Oman, and a bizarre last-minute reversal by COSCO added fresh uncertainty to an already unpredictable operating environment.

 

The Houthis’ entry into the active conflict on Saturday marks a significant threshold. The group, which attacked more than 100 merchant vessels between November 2023 and October last year, had until now limited itself to words of condemnation. Saturday’s missile launches toward Israel, accompanied by warnings that vessels seen as supporting the war would be targeted, signal that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait – through which around 12% of global trade typically passes – is now back in play as a potential conflict zone. Since the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, Saudi Arabia has been routing millions of barrels of crude daily through Bab el-Mandeb. 

 


How volatility and data drive supply/demand dynamics – and rates

 

Container freight rates are no longer governed purely by the traditional supply and demand factors, but increasingly by geopolitical shocks and the speed at which information moves through the market, according to Freightos chief strategy officer Ian Arroyo. 

 

 

Waiting for the next cycle could sink your shipping strategy


As geopolitics reshapes trade routes and volatility becomes structural rather than cyclical, shipping’s traditional reliance on market recoveries is no longer enough. Eman Abdalla, managing partner of SeaThrew Marine, a maritime investment and advisory platform, argues that discipline, flexibility and risk positioning – not scale alone – will define the industry’s next winners.

 

Shipping has always been built around cycles, downturns endured in the belief that the next recovery would restore balance. That assumption is now dangerous. What we are experiencing today is not simply another downturn waiting for reversion. It is a structural reset in how global trade functions and waiting for ‘normal’ could prove the most expensive strategy in the room. Global trade is not shrinking. It is being rerouted, re-priced, and increasingly influenced by geopolitics. This is not cyclical volatility. It is structural volatility. And structural volatility changes the rules of the game. For years, scale was treated as shipping’s ultimate advantage. Larger fleets promised lower costs and stronger commercial leverage. But when routes shift rapidly and regulatory regimes diverge by region, scale without agility can quickly turn into inertia.

 

The winners in this environment will not be those waiting for the next upcycle to lift all ships. They will be those structurally built to operate in permanent uncertainty. Globalisation has not ended, it has simply reorganised. Trade will continue to flow, but along routes that are more complex, politically influenced and unpredictable. In that world, waiting passively for the next cycle is not strategy. It is drift. And drift, in shipping, rarely ends well.

 



Access ZG (access-zg.com) provides services to international logistics & trade participants, specialising in connecting with Asian markets.  

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and hope you gained some valuable insights,


Jeffrey Levy CA 

Founder

ACCESS ZG 

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WhatsApp: +61 417 275 262

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