Drewry Supply Chain Advisors
London maritime consultancy; publishes shipping cost and supply-chain benchmarks including the WCI.
Last refreshed: 26 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
How much does a day's Hormuz closure actually cost global trade, and is Drewry's number reliable?
- What is the Drewry World Container Index?
- The Drewry WCI is a weekly benchmark of container freight rates across key global trade lanes, published by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors in London. It is widely tracked by logistics professionals and became prominent during the 2021-22 shipping rate surge.
- What has Drewry said about shipping costs in the Strait of Hormuz in 2026?
- Drewry analysts tracked the divergence in freight rates between routes avoiding and transiting the Persian Gulf during the 2026 Iran conflict, quantifying the war premium on tanker and container routes through the strait.Source: Drewry
- Who is Drewry and what shipping data do they publish?
- Drewry is a London maritime research firm founded in 1970, publishing the World Container Index, port throughput data, and supply-chain cost benchmarks. It also advises corporations on freight market exposure.
Background
Drewry Supply Chain Advisors is a London-based independent maritime research and consultancy firm, a division of Drewry Maritime Advisors founded in 1970. It is best known externally for publishing the Drewry World Container Index (WCI), a widely tracked weekly benchmark for container freight rates across key global trade lanes including Shanghai-Rotterdam and Shanghai-Los Angeles. The WCI became a household name for supply-chain professionals during the 2021-2022 container shipping crisis, when rates spiked to historic highs.
In the context of the 2026 Iran conflict, Drewry's analysis of Hormuz-related shipping disruptions became a primary quantitative reference for assessing the economic cost of the crisis on global trade. Drewry analysts tracked the divergence between routes avoiding the Persian Gulf and those transiting it, the premium commanded by vessels willing to navigate the risk zone, and the secondary effects on container ship re-routing (as tankers displaced from Hormuz competed for alternative routing capacity).
Drewry also publishes port throughput data, container ship capacity utilisation studies, and analyses of supply-chain vulnerability for corporate clients. Its consultancy division advises major retailers, manufacturers, and logistics providers on freight market exposure.