According to the latest data released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, as of July 9, China’s export container freight index reported 2698.83, an increase from 2653.32 on July 2 At the same time, major container shipping companies also announced the benchmark freight rates for containers in early July, which showed that container freight rates on many routes have increased. Why did the international container freight rates increase again? This will bring consequences to related industries. What are the impacts?
Freight rates are adjusted frequently, and freight companies are busy accepting orders
Mr. Guo is from Huangpu District, Shanghai The person in charge of a freight forwarding company was confirming the container quotation for the day when the reporter saw him at 8 o’clock in the morning. He told the reporter that the business volume has increased a lot this year, but the recent frequent adjustments in international container freight rates have reduced their workload. There has been a significant increase, and we need to repeatedly confirm the shipping company’s shipping quotation every day.
Mr. Guo, the person in charge of an international freight forwarding company in Shanghai: Compared with before, the workload has increased 4 to 5 times, and now it is “man-to-man”. Keep an eye on the box.
The reporter learned that starting from July 1, shipping companies have made a new round of adjustments to route quotations. Although some near-ocean routes have shown a downward trend, most ocean routes have Everyone is expected to raise prices. Take the benchmark freight rate from China to the main destination port in Europe as an example: On July 1, the benchmark freight rate for standard containers was quoted at US$7,300/box, compared with the quote on June 25 the previous week: US$6,600/box. , an increase of more than 10%. Similarly, the benchmark price for large boxes was US$13,600 per box, an increase of more than 7% compared with the previous week’s quotation. Mr. Guo, who has been in the industry for more than 30 years, said that he has never experienced such a continuous increase in freight rates. He told reporters that there are many factors that affect international container freight rates, the most important ones being the volume of cargo transported and the transportation efficiency of the destination port. .
Mr. Guo, the person in charge of an international freight forwarding company in Shanghai: Hamburg, the main port in Europe, is extremely congested. There are many ships waiting outside. There are currently three to four hundred ships outside. Wait, it hasn’t happened in the past, and it will definitely take a lot of time to clear the port. For example, a large shipping company has announced that it will jump to Hamburg for two months. It is conceivable that it will not be solved within two months.
The decline in port dredging efficiency at some destination ports has directly caused cargo ships to jump to nearby ports and then be transported by land or short barges to the destination port, which has significantly increased the costs of shipping companies. The backlog of containers in the early stage is in urgent need of port clearance and transshipment, and overlapping freight orders are still increasing. As a result, the pressure on some destination ports will be difficult to alleviate in the short term, pushing up the recent international container freight rates.
It is difficult to ship large orders, so export companies increase prices to book space
Behind this round of rising container freight rates is the shortage of container space. What impact will this have on the shipments of export companies? What challenges will freight forwarding companies face?
In a freight forwarding company in Yangpu District, Shanghai, Zhang Yan, manager of the key account department, received Shen Zhenqing, freight manager of a vitamin raw material manufacturer.
After a round of negotiations, Shen Zhenqing finally only got the shipping space for 5 containers.
Shen Zhenqing, international freight manager of a chemical company: The first is our cabin insurance (cabin space). In fact, our demand is much higher than cabin insurance (cabin space), so now there is no way to just I was able to find an agent, but I didn’t expect that the price has increased five or six times this year. The small box sent to North America is about 15,000 US dollars, and the large box is about 18,000 US dollars.
Zhang Yan told reporters that in previous years, freight forwarding companies usually had to find sources of goods. Since this year, more customers like Shen Zhenqing have come to their door, which has also overwhelmed them. Some customers In order to ensure shipment volume, we do not hesitate to increase the price to obtain shipping space.
Zhang Yan, manager of the key account department of an international freight forwarding company in Shanghai: Because many of the CIF (cif) goods we sell cannot be booked, and it is also because of the price increase. . The shipping volume will be affected because our shipping spaces are limited and we can only do business in limited shipping spaces. Maybe we can actually meet less than 50% of our customers’ shipping needs.
There is a serious backlog of containers filling the transit warehouse
Reporters during the interview It is understood that high freight prices have also affected the order delivery of some export companies.At such a speed, some low-value products can only be temporarily stacked in transit warehouses. What impact will this have on the warehousing side?
Zheng Peng is the person in charge of a foreign trade transit warehouse in Minhang District, Shanghai. His daily work starts with inventory inventory. The current international container transportation capacity is tight, and the containers in this warehouse are temporarily stored. More than 20 heavy boxes waiting to be exported have been stacked at the site.
Zheng Peng said that the current storage capacity of this transit warehouse has exceeded 85%, which is close to full status. More than 30% of it needs transit export, which is 10% higher than in previous years. In a warehouse storing raw materials for export, the reporter noticed that not only the temporary storage space was full of containers, but the stocking space here was also saturated.
Data from the General Administration of Customs of my country show that my country’s total export value in May 2021 was US$263.922 billion, an increase of 23.4% from US$206.431 billion in the same period last year. As my country’s exports increase, container throughput has also hit new highs. From January to May this year, the container throughput of my country’s eight major hub ports reached 230 million TEUs, an increase of 17.1% from 196 million TEUs in the same period last year. Industry insiders said that with the improvement of the epidemic situation in various places, the effective international container shipping capacity is recovering, and the congestion at the port will be alleviated in the fourth quarter.
Chen Jinhai, chief analyst of the transportation industry at Tianfeng Securities: In the fourth quarter, our freight demand will enter the off-season, and the volume will be relatively reduced. With the popularization of vaccination in the fourth quarter, it is very likely that port congestion will gradually ease, so shipping prices are likely to begin to return to normal. </p
