When Molly's Heart receives new goods from Africa, there is a long journey behind each and every product.
Right now, that journey has become both more expensive and more complicated.
The unrest in the Middle East is affecting fuel prices and some of the world's most important shipping routes. When oil becomes more expensive, and ships have to sail further or change routes, the costs of international transport increase. In August 2026, oil prices have again risen due to growing uncertainty around, among other things, the Strait of Hormuz, while shipping traffic in the area has significantly decreased.
We feel it very concretely at Molly's Heart
For us, it's not just something you read about in the newspaper.
Our own transport prices from Africa have increased by about 20–40%.
For a small business like Molly's Heart, this is a significant increase. We work with smaller, handmade productions, and therefore extra transport costs cannot be distributed among hundreds of thousands of identical products.
At the same time, our products are often large in relation to their weight – for example, hand-woven baskets – and therefore the price of transport has a significant impact on the total cost price.
When the world is interconnected
Many ships have for extended periods avoided the Red Sea and the Suez Canal due to the security situation and instead sail the long way around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. This means longer transport time, more fuel, and higher costs. UNCTAD continues to describe freight rates as high and unstable due to, among other things, the changed shipping routes.
Even if a container from, for example, Senegal or Ghana does not necessarily have to pass through the Suez Canal, it is still affected by the global market.
Ships and containers are interconnected in one large transport system. When more ships are tied up on longer routes, ports become congested, and fuel becomes more expensive, it also affects other routes.
The Danish shipping giant Maersk reported as recently as August higher freight rates and a 44% increase in average bunker fuel prices in their Ocean business.
Small productions – long journeys
At Molly's Heart, we don't buy thousands of identical items from large factories.
Our products are handmade by artisans, women, and smaller producer groups. This is precisely a part of what Molly's Heart is built upon.
But it also means that we purchase smaller productions, and therefore transport accounts for relatively more of the price of each individual product.
And when transport increases by 20–40%, it is something we notice.
At the same time, we do not want to solve the problem by pressing prices on the people who make our goods.
This is an important principle for Molly's Heart.
The price of a handmade product is more than the product itself
When you buy a basket, a leather-bound notebook, or another handmade product from Molly's Heart, you are not just paying for the material and the hours spent on craftsmanship.
Behind the product there is also local transport, packaging, export, freight, insurance, and the final part of the journey to Denmark.
All of this is affected when fuel prices rise, shipping routes change, and the world becomes more uncertain.
The global container price remains high and volatile. Drewry, for example, measured the average global price for a 40-foot container at USD 4,255 on July 30, 2026. This is not the price of Molly's Heart's specific transports, but it illustrates the pressure in the international freight market.
From hands in Africa to a home in Denmark
For us, this entire journey is also an important part of the story behind Molly's Heart.
A product begins with a person.
A basket is hand-woven. A notebook is cut, sewn, and bound. A piece of craftsmanship is created with experience and time.
Then the journey to Denmark begins.
Right now, that journey is more expensive and more complicated than before. But our basic principle does not change:
Global price increases should not be paid by squeezing those who produce our goods.
For Molly's Heart, trade is not just about getting a product from Africa to Denmark. It's also about how it gets here – and about creating trade where the people behind the products receive fair payment for their work.
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Why is freight from Africa becoming more expensive?
Higher fuel prices, geopolitical unrest, changed shipping routes, and pressure on global transport capacity are among the factors that can increase freight prices.
How much have Molly's Heart's transport prices increased?
Molly's Heart has experienced price increases of about 20–40% on transport from Africa.
How does this affect Molly's Heart?
Molly's Heart works with smaller, handmade productions. Therefore, transport accounts for relatively more of the cost price per product than with large industrial imports.
What is Molly's Heart doing about the rising costs?
Molly's Heart does not want to compensate for higher freight prices by putting pressure on the payment to the artisans and producers who make the products.