In the past half year, the current situation of shortage of containers, bursting of containers, dumping of containers, jumps to ports, and crazy rise in freight rates has continued globally. In the second half of 2021, it has not been effectively alleviated. The foreign trade logistics industry is complaining…
The shipping cost of shipping 300 containers can buy a ship
Recently, it is reported that the container freight rate for the voyage from China to Northern Europe has exceeded 20,000 US dollars/FEU, and the container freight quotation for the trans-Pacific route to the West Coast of the United States has also reached 25,000 US dollars/FEU. There are even reports that the container freight from Shanghai to Los Angeles in the United States recently reached US$32,000/FEU?
Among the recently disclosed quotations, the world’s top five container shipping companies have quoted quotations for shipments from Chinese ports to Philisto Port and Southampton in July this year. It has reached 21,000 US dollars/FEU, and the average shipping cost has also reached 18,000 US dollars/FEU.
It is said that such high shipping costs are mainly for the so-called guaranteed space similar to “first class” on an airplane. But even so, there are still shippers complaining that their shipping space is still not guaranteed and there are cases of being dumped. And as the peak season approaches, things appear to be getting worse.
Some employees said that it is seriously inconsistent with the current market price!
Let’s do a simple calculation. The quotation for 300 containers is US$25,000/FEU, which means that if this transportation task is successfully completed, the total freight will reach US$7.5 million. Such a fee is indeed a bit unbelievable.
You must know that in January this year, a 15-year-old 2,800TEU (simple understanding can hold 1,400FEU) container ship was sold at this price. But having said that, with the rise in freight rates, container ship rentals and ship prices have also risen sharply in recent months. Recently, another 2,800TEU ship was chartered for 65 to 80 days, and the overall rental rate has also reached this level.
Affected by factors such as the surge in demand and the port shipping problems encountered by the Suez Canal and ports in South my country due to the epidemic, the ship schedule rate has seriously declined. In order to obtain a stable Increases in expected space, additional charges for container shipping and a host of other expenses have resulted in the gap between the spot freight market index and actual charges being paid widening every week.
The shipping market cannot escape the disruption caused by scalpers
When resources are scarce, scalpers will take advantage of the situation and become market disruptors. The shipping market is no exception. Containers are now not only expensive, but the boxes themselves are “hard to find”, so “scalpers” were born.
In the past, freight forwarders needed to book space with the shipping company, and then take the booking information to the yard to pick up the boxes. To transport goods out, space and boxes are indispensable. However, the current shipping market has already seen an imbalance between supply and demand, and shortages of space and containers have become common phenomena. Even freight forwarders have to rely on scalpers.
“Sometimes I get the cabin, but I may not be able to lift the box.” A foreign trade businessman who did not want to be named told reporters that in the past, he could usually get the container if he got the cabin. .
“We will get the space through the shipping company, but this cannot meet our needs, so sometimes we have to buy part of it through reselling, and of course the price is relatively high.” Located A freight forwarder from Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province told reporters that the “hands-off” he mentioned were what people often call “scalpers.”
This situation is not unique. Buying high-priced cabins and containers through scalpers has become an inevitable step now. Due to the serious shortage of boxes in the market now, this is the only way to meet the different needs of different customers.
“The shipping company’s sales also want to make more money. The scalpers offer high prices, so the shipping company’s sales are naturally willing to give up space to scalpers.” Another freight forwarder said, in this way The freight forwarders have no solution at all, which has resulted in more and more resources for scalpers, while those who are serious about shipping space have fewer resources.
According to previous media reports, under the inducement of interests, many scalpers obtained empty containers through unconventional means. One is to falsely report the bill of lading and then pick up the boxes from the shipping company; the other is to “manipulate” the empty box reservation system inside the terminal to temporarily hide the empty boxes. Scalpers disrupt the market and will ultimately harm the interests of all parties in the market.
“A very important reason for the high freight rates now is scalpers.” A freight forwarding manager said. At the same time, scalpers do not need to worry about terminal delivery, customs clearance and other issues. “Compared to us first-level generations,Logically speaking, scalpers are more profitable, they only need to speculate and sell boxes. ”
Sending goods now is like going through a tribulation:
There is goods but no positions! Yes! The position has no price!
There is a price and a position, but there are no boxes!
I was notified of a temporary price increase again! I was dumped by the ship owner Cargo!
The position was taken back by the shipowner! Everything was resolved and the ship was delayed again!
The ship may have been delayed again after leaving the port.
Textile foreign trade will again bear pressures such as increased costs and difficulty in shipping
People engaged in textile foreign trade are also suffering from such skyrocketing freight prices. They lamented, “I have never seen such a high price in ten years of working in the industry! This business is out of business! ”
However, the textile foreign trade market has been loosening recently. The order intake in the early stage has been tepid and has not improved much. Recently, there has been news of improvement and orders have begun to increase. But now the current price is Sea freight has invisibly increased cost pressure on foreign trade textile companies, and they have to increase their quotations, but it is also easy to lose orders due to high prices.
Sea freight has become the foreign trade market trend Roadblocks to recovery. Especially in the second half of the year, the important traditional peak season of “gold, three and silver” is about to begin. On the one hand, judging from past peak seasons, the prices of raw materials, gray fabrics, dyeing fees, etc. are all likely to rise. In addition, high With the huge amount of sea freight, the costs of foreign trade textile companies will further increase, which is very unfavorable for them to receive orders. On the other hand, it is currently the traditional off-season for the textile industry, and orders are relatively few. There may still be plenty of time for shipments. However, In the peak season in the second half of the year, once orders increase and the shipping situation has not been alleviated, shipments will definitely become more difficult, and there may even be problems such as transaction delays and the need for compensation.
On the morning of June 24, at the press conference of the State Council Information Office, Vice Minister of Transport Zhao Chongjiu discussed the current situation in the international container liner market: “It is difficult to find a cabin, it is difficult to find a box, and freight prices continue to rise.” made relevant responses. The Ministry of Transport will continue to work with the Ministry of Commerce and other departments to implement relevant measures to stabilize foreign trade, guide international liner companies to continue to increase the supply of transport capacity for mainland China’s export routes, while improving the turnover efficiency of containers, and guide local transportation departments in While doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control, we must ensure the stability and smoothness of the international logistics supply chain. In terms of price, we also cooperate with the market supervision department to strengthen the supervision of shipping port charges and investigate and deal with illegal charges in accordance with the law.
Although China’s Ministry of Transport has stepped in to take relevant measures, it may not be possible to completely change the current shipping situation by September or October. Therefore, there is still a situation where sea freight is “hard to find a cabin, hard to find a box, and freight prices continue to rise.” .In order to deal with this situation, we hope that foreign trade textile enterprises can prepare in advance, communicate with foreign customers as soon as possible, and take countermeasures.</p
