The spot rate for shipping from Hong Kong to Los Angeles leaped by 20.5 percent to more than $2,000 per 40-foot container over the past week, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants.
It looks like shippers' collective decision last year to sideline some of their container ships has contributed to the lack of cargo space available, thus the speedy rise in bids for remaining spaces. This is extremely good news for shipping stocks in the near term. One question: Do they plan to keep some of their container ships idle indefinitely? If the recovery proves to be a head-fake (as I suspect it will), the cost of bringing some ships out of mothball status will be a waste.
