/ By TJ China Freight / Shipping

U.S. Express delivery rate drops on time, many express companies plan to increase prices

According to the news on December 29, it is reported that due to bad weather, coupled with the epidemic and holiday packages, there has been a surge in packages. According to statistics, about 6 million packages are piled up in warehouses in the United States every day . Data in the third week of December showed that UPS's on-time delivery rate has dropped from 93% to around 86% .

Pei Jiahua, president of FedEx Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, said in a statement that the epidemic has disrupted the supply chain and production lines, and has had an impact on reliability delivery, but this peak freight season will be one of the busiest seasons in history.

U.S. Express delivery rate drops on time, many express companies plan to increase prices

It is reported that recently, many express companies such as Amazon and UPS in the United States have announced the suspension of aging guarantees and price increases.

Foreign media reported that retailers said that due to the squeeze of demand, FedEx FedEx is restricting the number of retailers' delivery, and retailers are now restricted from sending 75 packages a day .

According to the CEP-Research website, FedEx will increase most of the U.S. express and ground freight charges by 4.9% from January 4, 2021 ; in addition, from December 27 this year, United Parcel will charge for the use of its ground in the United States. Non-contractual customers for aviation and international services charge an average of 4.9% more.

It is understood that the U.S. Postal Service is also considering increasing the price of transportation services after obtaining approval from relevant price management agencies. According to the plan, the U.S. Postal Service will increase the prices of various transportation services by 1.2%-20% from January 24, 2021 . Among them, priority mail will increase prices by 3.5%, and priority mail express will increase prices by 1.2%.

/ By TJ China Freight / Shipping

A 24% increase in one week, the freight rate of Asia-Europe route hit a record high! Maersk and ONE reduce bookings

Near the end of the year, the peak freight season continued to be hot, and the market freight rates continued to rise.

Especially in the European market, the demand for cargo volume remains high. At the same time, the recurrence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has also stimulated the growth of local import demand.

At present, the average space utilization rate of ships exported from Shanghai Port to Europe has basically remained at the full space level, driving the market booking price to rise sharply.

 

A 24% increase in one week, the freight rate of Asia-Europe route hit a record high! Maersk and ONE reduce bookings
The latest Shanghai comprehensive export container freight index

According to the Shanghai Composite Container Freight Index (SCFI), on December 11, the freight rate (sea freight and ocean freight surcharges) from Shanghai to the European basic port market was US$2,948/TEU, a 24.2% increase from a week ago. Compared with the US$1,508/TEU a month ago, it has nearly doubled.

The freight rate of US$2948/TEU on the Asia-Europe route is the highest level in history since SCFI was released in 2009.

 

A 24% increase in one week, the freight rate of Asia-Europe route hit a record high! Maersk and ONE reduce bookings
2018-2020 SCFI Asia-Europe route freight trends

The rate of the Mediterranean route has increased even more. On December 11, the freight rate (sea and ocean surcharges) for exports from Shanghai to the Mediterranean basic port market was 3073 US dollars/TEU, a 28.9% increase from a week ago.

Some industry analysts believe that the actual freight rate of some goods on the Asia-Europe route is higher.

Lars Jensen, CEO of SeaIntelligence Consulting, an industry authoritative consulting firm, believes that SCFI may seriously underestimate the actual freight rate in some cases because it does not consider the additional costs associated with containers and spaces.

He said that anecdotal evidence has shown that in Asia-Europe routes, the actual freight rate of some goods has reached as high as US$10,000/FEU.

 

A 24% increase in one week, the freight rate of Asia-Europe route hit a record high! Maersk and ONE reduce bookings

The continuous period of high cargo volume, soaring freight rates, port congestion and shortage of containers have increased the risk of supply chain rupture, and more and more liner companies are controlling bookings.

Hapag-Lloyd has announced that due to severe container shortages, until the end of December this year, it will no longer accept 40-foot reefer containers from terminals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. In addition, the empty container of 40-foot ordinary container in Hamburg, Germany is not accepted.

This means that bookings in these countries will be affected.

 

A 24% increase in one week, the freight rate of Asia-Europe route hit a record high! Maersk and ONE reduce bookings

In addition, Maersk and ONE also indicated to the media that before the New Year, they will have to reduce their bookings in Asia.

Faced with criticism that liner companies’ reduced bookings will affect shippers’ shipments, the World Shipping Council, headquartered in the United States, stated: “No one can predict the surge in demand for container shipping this year. see."

The organization believes that the solution to current problems lies in continuous communication between the carrier and the shipper. To restore the entire transportation system to a balanced state, all parties must work together to spend this critical period together.