/ By TJ China Freight / Shipping

Freight rates on Asia-Europe routes rose 27% within a week

As analysts have always predicted, the spot freight rates on the Asia-Europe container trade routes have risen sharply. Compared with the booming Pan Pacific routes, the carnival comes later.

Stimulated by the surge in consumer demand, the supply of equipment was tight and the supply of equipment was limited. The freight rate announced by the Shanghai Container Freight Index (SCFI) rose by US$447/TEU to US$2091/TEU, a 27% increase in a week. The freight rate of the Asia-Mediterranean route has also risen sharply, rising by US$421 or 23% this week to US$2219 per TEU.

Today, most trade routes have also released data for a week. The freight rate from Asia to West Africa has increased by US$300 to US$4,459 per TEU; while the freight rate from Asia to the east coast of Latin America has soared by US$402 to 4,805 per TEU. Dollar.

At the same time, the freight rate in the Pacific region was flat this week, but still at a historical high.

According to recent data released by shipping reporting company Sea Intelligence, the capacity of trans-Pacific routes will increase by 27.3% year-on-year in December. However, in Asia and Europe, the deployment plans of these shipping companies show that capacity has only increased by 6.7% year-on-year. In recent months, many ships have diverted to more profitable trans-Pacific waters.

Earlier this week, Eytan Buchman of Freightos, an online container ordering platform, commented in a report to customers: “Because carriers prioritize trans-Pacific containers, some of them have shifted their shipping capacity to Asia from Europe. United States."

"The shortage of equipment and port congestion in the United States and the United Kingdom has made shippers miserable. There are reports that bookings have been rejected due to lack of empty containers, containers have been unloaded at other ports, and shippers have delayed bookings." Buchman added.

In recent months, the record freight environment has prompted many governments to intervene. The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has expanded its investigation of liner activities, and India, China and South Korea have also recommended that routes control their sky-high charges.

/ By TJ China Freight / Shipping

The port in South Asia is in chaos and congestion.

It is reported that the Port of Colombo has a backlog of 50,000 teu of cargo, causing South Asian transshipment cargo into chaos.

In the past few weeks, the Sri Lankan capital has been locked down due to the epidemic, and since the beginning of October, the city’s container terminal labor shortage has caused serious congestion.

Today, this dilemma is affecting the supply chains of neighboring India and Bangladesh.

 

According to Rohan Masakorala, CEO of Shippers' Academy Colombo, the Port of Colombo has reduced the number of employees by about 30%, which has dealt a major blow to the efficiency of crane production and trucking between freight stations.

"The backlog of orders and goods is very large, and it may take six to eight weeks to clean up."

"Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) mainly focuses on transshipment, while the other two terminals are responsible for feeder ships, so there is an urgent need for transshipment between terminals." He said.

"The lack of truck drivers means that containers are starting to accumulate in the storage area of ​​the port. This also means that it affects feeder ships, sometimes waiting for more than a week, and then even the mainline ships have to be delayed by one to two days."

 

▲Colombo port congestion: a backlog of 50,000 TEUs caused delays and increased freight rates

Masakorala said that given that Colombo handles approximately 600,000 TEUs per month, regional feeders and connectivity are being severely damaged, and carriers are forced to ship containers to India, Singapore and Dubai.

He added: “Of course, Colombo is not the only port affected by the new crown epidemic, but as a transshipment hub, the impact is much greater and the entire region will be affected. Even now, there are still 23 ships waiting for berths, and Usually the port receives 12-16 ships every day, so there are quite a lot of ships waiting at the window."

He explained that it is inevitable that Colombo’s freight has doubled, and shippers need to book eight weeks in advance to get a seat.

 

Masakorala said: “Some shippers have been waiting in Colombo for four weeks and two weeks in Singapore.” “Freight forwarders have been severely affected, so some urgent cargo must be transported by air or to a third port, which increases Cost and shipping time."

He added that, given that ports in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan are fully operational, there are now concerns that the port’s reputation may be damaged. Sri Lanka is ambitious and hopes to become a global shipping and logistics hub as famous as Dubai and Singapore. However, Mr. Masakorala said that the LCL loading and unloading and customs clearance and consolidation operations of FCL have been "seriously affected."

Recently, foreign trade forwarders who transshipped through this port have mainly paid attention to it, for fear of delays and additional costs.

Colombo handled 7.2 million TEUs in 2019, but Mr. Masakorala believes that the port’s throughput will drop by 10-20% this year.

/ By TJ China Freight / Shipping

Characteristics of air freight

Air freight is a mode of transportation that uses airplanes or other aircraft as carriers, and is generally divided into ordinary air transportation and express delivery. Compared with marine transportation and land transportation, it has the following characteristics:

1. Fast delivery

2. Low damage rate and good safety

3. Unaffected by ground conditions, large space span

4. It can save related costs for production enterprises

5. High freight rate

6. Limited capacity

7. Vulnerable to weather

Therefore, Air freight is most suitable for transporting urgently needed materials, fresh and live commodities, precision instruments, machinery and equipment, electronic accessories and valuables.