Ocean shipping rates for goods leaving China are likely to fall next year when new container vessels take to the seas, according to carriers at a major trade fair in Shanghai.

Freight rates have plunged by as much as 90 per cent in the last year from the unprecedented highs they enjoyed during the pandemic, and are expected to stabilise in the short term.

More than 200 new ships are due to be delivered to freight operators in each of the next two years. Vessels with a total capacity of 2.34 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) will be delivered in 2023, and another 2.83 million TEUs will be added in 2024.

That compares with 1.1 million TEUs this year.

“The shipping industry is wary of a further drop [in shipping rates],” said Kevin Gao, senior sales manager with Hapag-Lloyd (China) Shipping, an exhibitor at the China International Import Expo (CIIE). “Delivery of new vessels will probably exacerbate an overcapacity issue.”