Brexit and Covid blamed as Asia-UK shipping rates increase fourfold
Port congestion and skeleton staffing cause shortage of freight containers while consumer demand rebounds
The cost of importing containers filled with consumer goods from Asia into the UK has reached a record high after a surge in demand in the weeks before Christmas and the UK’s exit from the EU.
Shipping experts believe the UK has been dealt a double blow by the impact of the coronavirus, which has disrupted global shipping supply chains, and the end of the Brexit transition period, which caused a large increase in imports in the last months of 2020.



