As more and more shipping companies increase their efforts to control shipping capacity, the decline in freight rates continues to narrow, and the container shipping market is expected to stop falling and rebound.
SCFI index continues to fall for 26th consecutive week
According to the latest data released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, the Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) fell 14.8 points to 1123.29 points last week. Although the SCFI index continued to fall for the 26th consecutive week, the decline further narrowed from 2.84% in the previous week to only 1.3%, showing that the shipping market has bottomed out.
Among them, the freight rate of the Far East to Europe line has rebounded again. Last week, the freight rate per TEU increased by 3 US dollars to 1,050 US dollars, an increase of 0.2%. The freight rate per TEU on the Far East to Mediterranean line increased for the second consecutive week, rising by US$10 per TEU to US$1,851, an increase of 0.5%.
At the same time, the US-Western Line also began to show signs of stabilization. The freight rate per FEU from the Far East to the US-Western Line fell by US$7 to US$1,423 on a week-to-week basis, maintaining the 0.49% drop from the previous week. Only the U.S. East Line still suffered a larger decline. The freight rate per FEU from the Far East to the U.S. East Line fell by US$121 to US$3,169 per week, a decrease of 3.67%, but it was still lower than the 4.28% of the previous week.
In Asia, the freight rates per FEU from the Far East to Kansai and Kanto, Japan, increased by US$10 to US$331 and US$334 respectively. The freight rates of the Singapore line fell by US$11 to US$205, and the freight rates of the Busan line in South Korea also fell by US$33 to US$236.
Southeast Asia routes surprisingly hit US$1 in freight charges
At present, the freight rate of the ocean line in the container shipping market has gradually stabilized, but the Southeast Asia line is still falling, and the Vietnam line has returned to the “symbolic” freight rate of US$1 before the epidemic in 2019.
According to media reports in Taiwan, China, a large freight forwarding company pointed out that last week the Vietnam route has returned to the pre-epidemic freight rates of 2019, with both large boxes (40-foot containers) and small boxes (20-foot containers) charging only a symbolic $1 for shipping. fee.
Industry insiders pointed out that the number of confirmed cases increased sharply after the lockdown in mainland China was lifted. Ports are facing a shortage of workers, which is expected to be alleviated in two months. Moreover, many workers have not returned to their hometowns for the Chinese New Year for three consecutive years. Some factories have decided to reopen after the lockdown is lifted this year. An early holiday in early January will affect shipments, and it is difficult to see a small peak season before the Spring Festival.
On the other hand, container ships previously transferred from China’s domestic lines to Vietnam and Thailand have not yet been withdrawn. Due to overcapacity, last week the Vietnam line had a symbolic freight rate of only US$1 per FEU and per TEU.
At the same time, the freight rate on the Thailand line has also dropped significantly. The original freight rate per box was US$200. Last week, the freight rate announced by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange was US$143. This week, shipping companies in the Taiwan market only charged US$50, indicating that the problem of excess space has become increasingly obvious. .
On December 31 last year, the Shanghai Shipping Exchange Southeast Asia Container Freight Index (SEAFI) reached as high as 8,063.98 points. At that time, the freight rate per TEU in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, reached US$1,424, and the freight rate per TEU in Laem Chabang, Thailand, reached US$1,469. Today, the SEAFI index has dropped to only 804.60 points, a drop of 90.02%. The Vietnam line freight rate is only US$98 per TEU, and the Thailand line is only US$115 per TEU.
The shipping company reported to FMC that freight rates increased by US$1,000 in January.
In addition, recently, in order to welcome the small peak season before the Spring Festival, some container shipping companies have successively introduced strategies to increase freight rates starting from January 1. US line shipowners have reported to the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) that each large box (40 (foot container) will increase by US$1,000, and inland prices will increase by US$2,000.
However, large freight forwarding companies believe that it is very difficult to increase prices. Some freight forwarding companies estimate that an increase of 100 or 200 US dollars would be good; for European routes, it is estimated that the actual increase may be 50 US dollars.
The Lunar New Year is currently one month away. Industry insiders pointed out that in previous years, shippers began to rush to book space six weeks before the Spring Festival. This year, there is no rush to book space. If freight rates can increase, it will mainly depend on shipping companies to reduce work. Since only a few flights will be fully loaded due to flight reduction, most flights will still have insufficient loading rates. Freight forwarding companies believe that it is very difficult to increase prices.
However, many flights that used to operate every week now operate every other week. Freight forwarding companies need to fully understand the situation of overtime, otherwise they will have to wait for two weeks to successfully ship goods if there is a delay, and shipping companies are also worried about allowing customers to delay shipments for two weeks. For goods, we will avoid overcharging to avoid offending customers.
At present, the shipping company’s reduction rate is about 30%. Industry insiders believe that unless there are further reductions in flights, there will be a slight increase of 50 or 100 at most before the year, and it will fall back immediately after the year. There is still no need to look forward to the first quarter of next year.
Because American shipping companies have to report freight rates to FMC, they adopt a high-reporting strategy to avoid missing out on price increase opportunities when freight rates can rise significantly due to some special factors. Other routes are based on price increase regulations in various countries. One month ago Notify customers.
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