Container shipping costs from South Korea to China rose for the eighth consecutive month in September, the customs agency said according to Yonhap.
Average shipping cost
The average shipping cost for a 40-foot container from Korea to China climbed 17.6 percent on-month to 862,000 won ($634.76) last month, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.
The figure has been on a constant increase since February.
To the European and Vietnam
But the average shipping costs from Korea to the European Union shed 14.7 percent, the first fall in five months. Costs for the Korea-Vietnam route also fell 11.1 percent, the first decline in eight months.
Costs for shipping from Korea to the U.S. east coast dropped 5.7 percent.
Red Sea tensions
Compared with a year earlier, however, the shipping costs for those routes more than doubled due mainly to tensions surrounding the Red Sea and the growth in global cargo volume, officials said.
Costs for shipping from overseas generally went down in September.
Those from the U.S. west coast to Korea declined 16.5 percent and those from Europe skidded 15 percent. Shipping costs from the U.S. east coast to Korea lost 7.6 percent on-month in September, the data showed.
On the other hand The growing tensions in the South China Sea are seen as one of the most sensitive geopolitical issues in the world today, as this vital corridor for exports and imports witnesses frequent skirmishes between China and a number of neighboring countries.
The South China Sea is the world’s most valuable shipping lane in terms of the value of trade that passes through it.. and the conflict there poses clear risks to global shipping.
According to the reports which cited public statistics, about 500,000 commercial ships pass through the South China Sea annually, with about 40 percent of global trade passing through the region and its adjacent straits. In addition, more than a million civilian flights operate over the South China Sea annually.
The South China Sea is a strategic nexus between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and is of great economic importance due to its rich natural resources, including 12 percent of the world’s total fish catch, and huge oil reserves of up to 11 billion barrels of oil, in addition to 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
With Beijing claiming almost the entire sea, while a handful of other countries have overlapping claims, several clashes have broken out between China, the Philippines and Vietnam, raising fears of an incident that could disrupt global trade.
It seems that the increases in shipping prices between South Korea and China are due to many reasons, including the South China Sea dispute beside to Red Sea tension
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