On December 1, Ningbo Zhoushan Port Co., Ltd. issued a price increase notice on its official website: In order to further streamline port charges, according to the “Port Charges and Billing Measures” of the Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission, as well as the Ningbo Port Charge Catalog List Publicity Requirements , adjustments will be implemented on the basis of the original “Ningbo Zhoushan Port Foreign Trade Import and Export Container Port Charges Catalog”. The new catalog list will be implemented from January 1, 2022.
In the port charge catalog released by the company in June 2020, the terminal loading and unloading fee standards are 490 yuan/20-foot heavy box and 751 yuan/40-foot heavy box. The new standards are 539 yuan/20-foot heavy box and 826 yuan/40-foot heavy box.
In other words, compared with the pre-adjustment standards, the port’s loading and unloading charges for 20-foot and 40-foot empty containers have achieved an increase of about 10% under the new standards.
Why do ports increase handling fees?
First, handling charges at Chinese ports are already at a low level.
Secondly, the increase in loading and unloading fees is the result of the intertwined forces of internal and external factors. From the perspective of internal factors, terminal production and expansion costs are increasing year by year. Specifically, firstly, the current strict reclamation control measures and environmental protection requirements have increased the cost of new port construction and operation; secondly, the prices of labor, infrastructure, and raw materials have increased; thirdly, It was a sudden epidemic, and the cost of epidemic prevention suddenly increased. Port companies and employees have invested huge financial, material and manpower in epidemic prevention regulations and special shift systems.
In terms of external factors, after 2021, shipping prices have been rising under the influence of multiple factors such as poor supply chains, port congestion in the West US, and Suez Canal congestion. It is expected that the container shipping industry will achieve an astonishing profit of US$150 billion in 2021. Shipping This wave of cyclical dividends in the industry has also spilled over to related markets such as freight forwarding, ship chartering, container leasing, and container building. All relevant parties in the entire chain, except the port, have made a lot of money.
According to previous analysis by the port circle, after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, even if the shipping company ultimately profited from it, incurable problems such as port hopping and a drop in punctuality still occurred during the process. A handful of sugar was still mixed with glass slag. . Foreign ports are even less resilient and have been directly “beaten”. It is unclear when they can resume normal operations. Chinese ports have maintained efficient loading and unloading levels under the same situation. If we want the entire supply chain to operate stably in the face of emergencies and violent market fluctuations, it is a common choice for shipping companies to hand over part of their dividends and work hand in hand with ports.
Other ports are expected to follow suit in terms of foreign trade container handling fees.
Recently, port policies have shown a tendency of marginal improvement. On November 18, the State Council approved the temporary adjustment and implementation of relevant administrative regulations in the Lingang New Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and the coastal piggybacking business of foreign trade boxes between Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao Port and Shanghai Yangshan Port Area , open to international liner companies from foreign countries, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.
Reviewing history, shipping prosperity will be transmitted to ports. Shenwan Hongyuan Research believes that the adjustment of loading and unloading fees at Ningbo Zhoushan Port is just the beginning. Overseas terminals have achieved an increase in single-container revenue. Maersk’s APM Terminal, single-TEU terminal business revenue increased by 10.7%, 18%, 21%, 28%, and 32% respectively from 2017 to 2020. Affected by the anti-monopoly review in 2017, some domestic ports have not officially raised their catalog prices. The price adjustment at Ningbo and Zhoushan Port is the beginning of the shipping boom being transmitted to domestic ports.
This catalog price adjustment of Ningbo Zhoushan Port is limited to foreign trade containers. Shenwan Hongyuan Research believes that after the price adjustment of Ningbo Zhoushan Port, other ports are expected to follow suit in terms of handling fees for foreign trade containers.
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