Spot container freight rates on the major routes from Asia soared by up to 42 percent today following the collapse of Hanjin Shipping, data from the World Container Index reveals.

Rate assessment increased by 42 percent to $1,674 per 40-foot container on the Shanghai-Los Angeles route, by 19 percent to $2,151 on the Shanghai-New York route, and by 39 percent to $1,826 on the Shanghai-Rotterdam route.

“Unpredictable freight rates are not new phenomenon in the container industry, however a major upheaval of supply like this is likely to cause extreme short-term price volatility,” said Richard Heath,

general manager of WCI. “Shippers should expect increasing freight costs and tight allocation for several weeks at least.”

“The Hanjin bankruptcy means a shock to the market – some of our shipper customers are making contingency plans and asked us to assess the impact of this on their supply chains,” said Philip Damas, director at Drewry, which jointly owns WCI alongside Cleartrade Exchange.