Container shipping rates from China to the U.S. have topped $20,000 per 40-foot box “as rising retailer orders ahead of the peak U.S. shopping season add strain to global supply chains,” Reuters reports.

The acceleration in Delta-variant COVID-19 outbreaks has slowed global container turnaround rates, which have also been hampered by severe weather events around the world.

“These factors have turned global container shipping into a highly disrupted, under-supplied seller’s market, in which shipping companies can charge four to ten times the normal price to move cargoes,” maritime consultant Philip Damas told Reuters. “We have not seen this in shipping for more than 30 years.”

The spot price per container on the China-U.S. East coast route – one of the world’s busiest container lanes – has climbed over 500% from a year ago to $20,804 this week, according to Reuters. That compares to just under $11,000 on July 27.

The cost from China to the U.S. west coast is about $20,000, while the latest China-Europe rate is nearly $14,000.

“There are new orders for shipping capacity, equal to almost 20% of existing capacity, but they will only come online in 2023, so we will not see any serious increase in supply for two years,” stated Jason Chiang of Ocean Shipping Consultants.

The ongoing spike in shipping rates comes amid worsening supply chain issues for U.S. fastener importers.

Numerous customers are going back to domestic fastener manufacturers due to 22-24 week lead time one year ago; now its 32-40, according to Jon Najeski, Manager of Purchasing of Screws Industries Inc.

“A lot of industries can’t wait that long to get product.”

“The capacity to meet demand is not there in the U.S., so we have to supplement with overseas suppliers,” noted Ruggles. “This is nothing new.”