The cost of shipping raw materials across the world’s oceans has reached an all-time high, pushing up prices of grain, iron ore, coal and other commodities, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The average price of renting a ship to carry raw materials from Brazil to China has nearly tripled to $180,000 a day from $65,000 a year ago. In some cases, ocean shipping can be more expensive than the cargo itself. Iron ore, for example, costs about $60 a ton, but ship owners typically are charging about $88 a ton to transport it from Brazil to Asia.

The trend may force manufacturers to pay more for the basic ingredients they need to make their products. And those higher costs could be passed on to consumers, affecting the price of everything from automobiles and washing machines to bread.

The main reason commodity shipping rates are escalating: not enough bulk ships. The shortage stems from the surging volume of global trade as growth explodes in China, India and other developing nations. China’s voracious manufacturing sector is compelling it to look increasingly far afield for resources, such as to Brazil for iron ore.

The Baltic Exchange Dry Index, the most important and widely used indicator of world-wide ocean freight rates for bulk commodities, hit a record Friday after rising 169% over the past year. And shippers, brokers and commodity merchants are braced for higher rates next year and possibly through 2009. By then enough new bulk freighters are expected to come on line to ease the shortage.

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