The cost of importing products from China to the rest of the world has skyrocketed to unthinkable levels.
«If you used to pay US $ 2,000 to move a container from China to the west coast of the United States, now you have to pay US $ 20,000,» explains Teddy Heinsen, president of the Association of Shipowners of the Dominican Republic.
«It’s really difficult,» he tells BBC Mundo.
Behind the spectacular increase in the value of ocean freight is the so-called «container crisis», that is, an unusual shortage of space available to transport products from Asia to the West.
Added to the lack of containers are the traffic jams that exist in the largest international ports and the temporary closures of some Chinese maritime terminals due to strict measures to control the covid-19 pandemic.