Lara GuevaraSupply Chain expert (Product and Service)

You're Still Paying Disruption Pricing

20 May 2026 · 1 min

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1:07

Lara Guevara explains why freight rates stayed high after Red Sea disruptions ended. Most brands paid emergency surcharges of $500-$1,500 per container but never renegotiated when the market stabilized. One client saved $34,000 in the first year by re-bidding the same lanes.

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Your freight rate is wrong, not because someone made a mistake, because the market moved and your rate did not. Since late 2023, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea forced almost every major carrier to reroute ships around the Cape of Good Hope. That is 10 to 40 extra days in Asia to US routes, more fuel, higher insurance, tighter capacity. Emergency surcharges of $500 to $1,500 per container appeared almost overnight. Most brands absorbed those costs and kept moving. What they did not do is go back and renegotiate once the dust settled. So they are still paying disruption era rates on a market that has partially stabilized. I had a client re-beat their ocean freight this year. Same lanes, same volume, same broker even. Saved $34K in year 1. The broker was not going to volunteer that information. This week, how to know if your freight rate is stale and what to do about it. Tomorrow, what the Red Sea rerouting actually added to your landed cost.