Reroutings have added a week or more to sailings, thus straining cargo capacity, which, in return, has sent containerized shipping rates soaring. 

Bloomberg cites new data from Freightos, a cargo booking and payment platform, that shows the spot rate for a 40-foot container from Asia to northern Europe has jumped 173% to $4,000 since mid-December. 

The price for a 40-foot container from Asia to the Mediterranean has increased to $5,175, as reported by Freightos. Additionally, they noted that major shippers have announced even higher prices, surpassing the $6,000 mark for this route in the next two weeks. Shipping rates from Asia to the East Coast of North America also soared 55% to $3,900. 

The Red Sea connects to Egypt's Suez Canal and is the fastest way to transport consumer goods, petroleum products, and food from Asia and the Middle East to Europe and North America. About 10% to 12% of global trade flows through the critical waterway. 

On Wednesday, no container ships with destinations to North America and Europe were transiting the Red Sea. These vessels were rerouted to Africa's southern Cape of Good Hope to avoid the attacks - adding anywhere from 7 to 20 days to their voyages. This indicates that the Pentagon's Operation Prosperity Guardian has failed to protect commercial vessels in the region.