Carriers efforts to prop up rates by blanking sailings - and even roll out a General Rate Increase in April - has been successful. “When it became apparent the carriers’ recent GRI had succeeded in bumping up spot rates by several hundred dollars, sources say customers moved to sign their contracts out of concern that rates would only go higher the longer they waited,” per the Journal of Commerce. Those shippers might have been too hasty. There continues to be strong economic headwinds indicating that consumer demand will remain weaker than expected - at least through the end of 2023. The IMF and other institutions continue to warn of a pending recession in key markets - most recently it flagged the UK and Germany as at risk. Thus, despite the rate rebound in late April, container shipping advisory, Drewry, maintains that price spikes are temporary and that rates will fall further in 2023 on weaker demand. The optimism felt earlier in April that volumes could rebound in time for peak season, has now given way to a belief that retailers will look to a late second-half replenishment as some believe that the risk of a recession will skip the US and some European markets. While many brands and retailers have aggressively reduced inventory levels, there are still many that are sitting with full warehouses. Pipelines might not be truly cleared until late 2023 or early 2024. Volumes remain weak and carriers are now starting to take delivery of some of the new equipment they ordered during the previous years.