Magic 2020, the shipping industry has breaking news every day, and it always affects the hearts of foreign trade forwarders.
Today, the Moments of Friends screened the video of the driver grabbing the box. Truck drivers flocked to "queue" to pick up the cabinet. You earn and I grab one box, and they are almost "fighting".
This is a real response. Even if the shipping company normally releases the cabin, there is no guarantee that there will be boxes. It is difficult to find a box in China.
Another heavy news is that CMA CGM will directly stop accepting bookings from Asia to Europe in the next three weeks, and temporarily stop bookings on the Asia-Northern Europe route in the 49th, 50th and 51st weeks. The European route has basically ended this year. Booking.
In recent months, due to the uneven recovery of the global economy, the rebound of epidemics in many countries, and the arrival of traditional transportation seasons such as Christmas and New Year, congestion has occurred in many European and American ports, but many domestic ports are extremely short of containers.
Under such circumstances, many large shipping companies impose additional charges such as congestion surcharges, peak season surcharges, and shortage of containers.
Following the further surge in freight rates on the European and Mediterranean routes last week, data shows that this week, China’s export container shipping market performed stably, and transportation demand remained stable. The freight rates on most shipping routes rose, which led to a rise in the composite index.
The largest increase was the year-on-year growth rate in Northern Europe of 196.8%, the year-on-year growth rate in the Mediterranean Sea was 209.2%, and the year-on-year growth rates in the West and East of the United States were 161.6% and 78.2%, respectively. 390.5%.
As Christmas approaches, shippers and their freight forwarders in Europe and North America continue to generally face the problems of container shortages, port congestion, declining capacity and soaring freight rates. Many people in the industry are talking about the current "peak season" in the container industry. "When will it end?
According to the latest analysis conducted by Lar Jensen, CEO of shipping analysis agency SeaIntelligence, on behalf of the Baltic Exchange, the answer is likely to be around the Lunar New Year holiday in February, because the options available to supply chain stakeholders are very limited.
The root cause of the current problem is the unexpected demand for container cargo due to the global social blockade.
Jensen said that there are three key issues in meeting higher levels of demand: container, ship and port capacity constraints. He wrote: "If demand decreases, the problem will be resolved immediately."
"However, shipping companies may show their determination to reduce capacity again in order to cope with the downward trend in demand. This means that very high spot freight rates will drop, and new equipment available surcharges will disappear, but the interest rate will not It's too likely to crash." He added.
In these strange years, it is difficult for the industry to reach a consensus, but there are few signs that consumer demand will decline in the short term.
Jensen said that for many shippers and freight forwarders, the most pressing problem is the serious shortage of containers, but as China's container manufacturing plants are in full production, this problem may be alleviated before the Chinese New Year on February 12.
"This problem can be solved within a few months." He said: "The solution is that the empty containers are shipped back from Europe and North America faster, coupled with the full work of China's container factories... The current situation can be After the Spring Festival, it ended peacefully."
However, it will take longer to solve the problem of global ship and port capacity. When the capacity is insufficient, the traditional approach of shipping companies is to turn to the leasing market. However, due to the surge in demand, only a few boats are available for hire.
"As a result, the time scale for increasing capacity has changed from weeks to years now, because it will require the construction of new ships. Moreover, since the peak demand may be temporary, this solution will not help solve the problem." He wrote.
Another option for shipping companies is to increase their ship speed. Faster service can free up the structural capabilities of the shipping group, although this does increase costs.
"In general, considering the optimization of fuel, when modifying or building these ships, they cannot sail as fast as ten years ago, but there is still a certain degree of additional capacity that needs to be activated. However, this also comes at a cost. , Including the sharp increase in carbon emissions."
Finally, there is the issue of port inventory, which he admits is almost powerless in the short term.
"The surge in demand and the increase in ship arrivals have not only affected the number of containers that the port can handle, but also the number of ships that can be berthed and served."
"In addition, the surge in demand has caused larger ships to arrive with more cargo than originally planned, which means longer berth stays, a chain reaction, and subsequent ships will be delayed."
"The expansion of the port's capacity can only be measured in a few years at most. In some areas, large expansion projects can take up to 10 years."
