The port is not the boss, the ship is not the boss, and the cargo is the boss. This is a "golden sentence" circulating in the port and shipping industry. However, the freight forwarder who has been busy in the front line of cargo booking may tell you that at this moment of chaos in this industry, the port is not the boss, the ship is not the boss, and the cargo is not the boss. You can't get the empty space if you grab the head. The box is the boss .
In recent weeks, due to a severe shortage of empty containers, some container ships sailing from Asia to Europe cannot even be fully utilized. A shipping source said, “Recently, we have to vacate some spaces because China does not have enough containers to meet freight demand.” Almost all transport companies have reported that they have a serious shortage of 40-foot high containers (hc) and 40 There is also a shortage of standard containers, and even 20-foot containers are sometimes in short supply.
The latest container availability index report from Container xChange shows that the availability of containers in various ports in China is at a record low. From the perspective of the container availability index, the index higher than 0.5 indicates a surplus of empty container inventory, and lower than 0.5 indicates a shortage of empty containers. The current availability of 40-foot containers in China is only 0.05 CAx points, compared with 0.63 points in the same period last year .
Chinese shippers and freight forwarders all over the world "seeking" empty containers, but where did the empty containers go? The answer is simple, it is blocked in other ports.
While the Asian port and shipping industry is desperately desperate for empty containers, warehouses across Europe, especially in the UK, are filled with "immobile" boxes in troubled ports and overcrowded docks.
Affected by the epidemic, shipping companies have used methods such as suspension of voyages and port jumps to control capacity and adjust freight rates, but to a certain extent they also broke the balance of empty and heavy containers between routes. With the gradual recovery of the economy, the trade demand of various countries has rebounded, and the exports of Europe and the United States have grown strongly. However, under the continuous epidemic situation, the various quarantine and epidemic prevention measures added by the port customs will inevitably slow down the circulation of containers. Coupled with the gathering of festivals such as "Black Friday" and "Christmas", the port operation capacity will not be able to keep up with the number of boxes. , The result is that a large number of containers are blocked in the port, empty containers can not go out, heavy containers can not enter. In some British ports, the volume of container transportation in recent months has even been 30% higher than normal, resulting in too many empty containers throughout the UK, and even the alarming phenomenon of containers being piled "at your doorstep".
A British freight forwarder said, "Even if customers are prepared to pay close to crazy freight rates to ensure that the goods are shipped, we are still busy trying to transport the empty containers because the port is already full. Some empty containers on the dock are already After being placed for more than four weeks, we still don’t know when they will be loaded."
In order to ensure the smooth operation of global logistics, liner companies have adopted some unconventional container deployment strategies, such as shortening the free container usage period to stimulate and speed up the circulation of containers on key routes; key routes and long-distance base ports give priority to container use and priority Vacant containers are deployed to countries and regions such as China, Southeast Asia, etc.; the monitoring of container return is slow. For example, some areas in Africa cannot receive goods normally, resulting in whether the container is returned or not. The liner company will comprehensively evaluate and reasonably release the container; some shipping companies even suspend it Made export reservations to Europe and the United States in order to fill as many empty containers as possible back to Asia. However, due to the empty container regulation of shipping companies, the freight rates on the Asia-Europe routes have also been increasing, and the market seems to be in a vicious circle of chaos.
At the same time, a survey conducted by xChange and FraunhoferCML, a German maritime research consultant, showed that despite the large-scale progress in global port handling technology, the time that containers remain empty in ports is still surprisingly long. This report unexpectedly shows that the global container vacancy phenomenon is very serious. The vacant time of each container in the port is 45 days on average, while the vacant time of containers in empty container shortage areas such as China and the United States is longer, 61 days and 61 days respectively. 66 days.
Obviously, the circulation of empty containers is a problem that the entire industry needs to face squarely, but it has been ignored by the industry for a long time. In the sudden crisis of the epidemic, the "old problems" have further deteriorated and gradually developed into today's thorny problems.
It is understood that CIMC, which accounts for 45% of the global container manufacturing market, said that the company is currently stepping up container building and container orders have been scheduled to the first quarter of next year. However, waiting for the new containers to leave the factory, after all, "far water can't save the immediate emergency", and the situation of "a box is hard to find" is expected to continue for some time. In addition to working overtime and deploying empty containers, what else can shipping companies and ports do? The structural empty container circulation problem may be difficult to obtain an optimal solution in a short period of time, but "it is not too late to make up for it". It is time to put more resources and efforts on solving the empty container problem.
China Southern Airlines Boeing 787 wide-body passenger aircraft numbered B-2733 took off from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport at 9 am on the 30th to Pakistan Islamabad International Airport, marking the official opening of the direct route from Wuhan to Islamabad. This is the first international route opened by China Southern Airlines in Hubei after the epidemic prevention and control has become normal, and it is currently the only direct international passenger route to South Asia in Central China.
According to the staff of China Southern Airlines, the Wuhan-Islamabad route is scheduled once a week. The outbound flight number is CZ8139, and the flight time is about 6 hours and 10 minutes; the return flight number is CZ8140, and the flight time is about 5 hours and 15 minutes.
According to the current anti-epidemic policy, passengers who take regular direct commercial flights from Pakistan to China should complete 1 nucleic acid and 1 serum IgM at two different testing institutions designated by the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan within 48 hours before boarding. Antibody sampling and testing, and after obtaining the negative certificate of 2 nucleic acid and 2 serum IgM antibody tests, apply to the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan for a green health code with the “HS” or “HDC” logo. 14 Days of centralized isolation. Passengers entering Pakistan on direct flights from China do not need to provide nucleic acid test reports, but they need to download and install the Pass Track applet and fill in personal information as required.
It is understood that the inaugural flight also carried 12 tons of cargo, the main sources of which were communications products, medical equipment, e-commerce products and traditional trade goods. In terms of cargo security, the Hubei Sales Department of China Southern Airlines Cargo Logistics strictly examines cargo types and packaging, formulates loading plans in advance, and strengthens risk monitoring in the collection and transportation links. At the same time, in conjunction with the epidemic prevention and control policy, understand the imported goods information, formulate elimination measures, standardize the operation process, strengthen the protection training of frontline personnel, strictly control the risk of epidemic transmission in all links, and actively prevent and control import risks.
According to the staff of the Hubei branch of China Southern Airlines, as the resumption of work and production continues, China Southern Airlines uses "passenger-to-cargo" and chartered flights to provide more capacity for Hubei enterprises and personnel to communicate with foreign countries. Since the beginning of this year, as of November 30, China Southern Airlines has opened three international long-distance “passenger-to-cargo” direct flights from Wuhan to New York, London, and San Francisco, guaranteeing 11 direct flights from Wuhan to Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Seoul. Under the policy guidance and process support of bureaus, customs, border inspection, epidemic prevention and other units, a complete epidemic prevention and guarantee process has been established.
After the goods arrive at the port, the customer does not pick up the goods, and the shipping company requests to return the goods and let us bear all the expenses.
At the end of July 2019, two shipments were delivered to Port Klang, Malaysia. The two shipments arrived at the port in mid-August, but the customer did not pick up the goods until mid-September. Before the goods arrive at the port, we have reminded the customer that the goods are about to arrive at the port. After arriving at the port, we remind the customer to pick up the goods.
In mid-August, the freight forwarder told me that the customer still did not pick up the goods. I have been urging the customer to pick up the goods, and the customer always said that he would pick up the goods on the same day, but it was delayed until mid-September. Customers do not communicate with us because they do not pick up the goods for any reason. It will always be "I will pick up the goods today."
At that time, the LCL company was impatient, and gave us an ultimatum. Let us notify the customer one last time. If the customer does not mention it, it will be returned to us, and the demurrage fee and other expenses incurred will be paid by us.
Analysis suggestion
If the foreign customer’s company goes bankrupt or the goods are not picked up after arriving at the port, it has been more than a month since the arrival of the port and incurred a lot of costs. The customer will obviously not pick up the goods. We ask the freight forwarder to explain to the shipping company that we abandon the goods, but the forwarder says at least Only half a year can be abandoned.
So here comes the problem. The port cost in half a year is estimated to be an astronomical figure, and domestic factories will definitely not be able to afford it. The value of the goods is also very low, and the future cost will definitely be much more than the value of the auction. The specific questions are as follows:
1. Will the shipping company pursue these demurrage fees, demurrage fees, and terminal fees?
2. Is it recourse to freight forwarders or foreign customers or domestic factories?
3. If they cannot pay, will the shipping company go through legal procedures?
So, how to deal with export abandonment?
1. Take the initiative to abandon the goods.
First, ask your freight forwarder to seek help from the agent at the port of destination, first change the consignee to the designated agent, and then abandon the goods in the name of the agent. Why has to be this way? Because if the consignee is not changed, it should be difficult for the consignor to abandon the goods unilaterally. But after such a change, the agent at the port of destination will have to bear a lot of responsibilities, including the cost and responsibility of abandoning the goods. This condition must be negotiated with the freight forwarder. People are willing to help you do this. How much you need to bear.
2. Resale.
See if you can find other buyers in the destination country, change the consignee of the bill of lading and then sell them to them, of course, there will be a discount. There are also major constraints in doing so. One is whether the products are customized and difficult to resell, and the other is to find customers who are willing to take over.
3. Ignore it.
Then don't care about anything, and all the liability costs will be borne by your freight forwarder. This is the most embarrassing thing. Maybe you are all right, but the freight forwarder and the company who picked up your shipment are in bad luck. The key is that this matter is not the responsibility of others. Of course, the other party may also go to court with you. According to Article 86-88 of the Maritime Law, if the consignee has a problem, the consignor must bear the cost.
4. Return shipment.
You can return to the domestic bonded area for storage. If there is a new order that is sent abroad or is undergoing inspection and maintenance, replace the package and bonded warehouse for simple processing such as packaging, relabeling, and shell replacement. Sent abroad. The bonded area is equivalent to foreign countries, and the return of goods to the bonded area for inspection and maintenance does not require import declaration, so there is no need to apply for the return of the goods to the customs, and there is no need to pay taxes or pay a deposit to the customs.
Domestic export goods, especially electronic products, small household appliances, etc., have a high repair rate. The traditional way of returning to the factory for repair requires multiple cumbersome procedures such as customs, commodity inspection, and national tax. Using the advantages of the bonded area and outside customs can quickly solve the repair problem.
The bonded area has a policy of "outside customs within the country", that is, it is within the national border but not under the jurisdiction of the domestic customs. Goods entering the bonded area from the country are equal to export, and entering the country from the bonded area is equal to import (import customs declaration). same.
Therefore, returning the goods returned from abroad to the bonded area means that the goods remain abroad and the import declaration has not been processed, so there is no need to apply for the return of the goods to the customs, and the returned goods to the bonded area are tax-free and can be re-exported.
Below we analyze the advantages of returning to bonded warehouse storage for repair:
a. Simple procedures : free deposit, tax exemption, exemption, exemption from commodity inspection, exemption from customs declaration, only need to provide us with the packaging, number of pieces, amount, net gross weight, and then the QP system can apply for entry maintenance and entry maintenance.
b. Fast timeliness : After the goods arrive at the Hong Kong/Shenzhen terminal, our company can arrange transportation and pick up the container and pull it back to the bonded warehouse for repairs. Workers can enter and leave the processing area freely without a visa for repairs. Shenzhen re-export.
c. Low cost : The cost of workers and maintenance site costs are much lower than those in Hong Kong or overseas.
Case two
The customer is bankrupt, the creditor controls the goods, and the freight forwarder asks for storage fees
We have a batch of goods that we did CFR with our customers. The goods arrived in Hong Kong in July last year. Because the customer went bankrupt and disputes with creditors, the goods have not been able to withdraw. Our payment has been received in full. The agent requests for warehousing, detention fees and other fees, and our agent charges us these fees.
The domestic agent has our export tax rebate receipts, and the other party does not deliver the receipts accordingly, and the tax rebate will be declared immediately. This matter has not been resolved yet, which is very difficult. Now foreign agents threaten to auction the goods, do they have this right? Is this legally true?
Analysis suggestion
analysis:
First of all, make it clear that, as SHIPPER, you are indeed obligated to pay the storage fee for the batch of goods (the second responsible person, as long as CONSINEE does not pay, you have to pay);
Second, after the goods arrive at the port, the ownership of the batch of goods belongs to CONSINEE. If the goods are to be abandoned, CONSINEE should write a written statement before SHIPPER’s turn to write;
Third, there is no law that supports that freight forwarders can withhold your verification form. As long as they go to court, they will definitely lose the case;
Fourth, after a certain amount of storage fees are incurred at the terminal, the port of the other party does have the right to auction the goods, but the auction proceeds are paid to other creditors after the storage fees are paid. (Of course, if the auction proceeds are not enough to pay the storage fee, SHIPPER and CONSINEE are obliged to make up for it.)
Finally, if, as you said, the goods have been controlled by the customer's creditor, then the creditor should pay the warehouse rent as CONSINEE's principal. (Theoretically, if your client, as CONSINEE, does not receive the goods first, his creditor has no right to control the goods. If he has received the goods, then the owner of the goods is him instead of you. Of course it may be different. National laws are different, so only your customers will know how the local laws are)
Suggest:
After the goods arrive at the port, how can the customer return the goods or sell them to others without paying?
Most countries in the world have this regulation. When the imported goods arrive at the port, the jurisdiction of the goods will be transferred to the customs. In order to protect the interests of buyers, the customs will not allow anyone other than the consignee to move this. Batch of goods.
This has brought a lot of trouble to the seller. When the seller fails to collect the full payment and wants to control the rights of the goods, he finds that he may face a shortage of money and goods.
Because whether you want to return or resell, you must meet any of the following two conditions:
The original consignee gives a declaration of abandonment;
The original consignee clearly informed the seller to refuse to pay for the goods!
As a result, some buyers will keep dragging, and they will never say that they will not pay, so that you can't get the evidence. Don't even think about it!
As a result, the seller can only watch the time passing day by day until the goods are auctioned by the customs!
So I gave two methods:
1. Find a very capable freight forwarder. I mean the destination port forwarder. They can help solve some problems. I have a friend who has successfully solved the cargo problem in Turkey.
2. Looking for counsellors, some people have succeeded, but most of them can hardly be contacted.
In fact, these are dead horses as horse doctors, because there is hardly any better way.
However, today I want to tell you the good news that another method has proven effective in practice.
I suggested that a friend write this paragraph in the contract:
The payment method of this contract is to pay the balance upon seeing a copy of the bill of lading. If the buyer (specific name) has not paid the balance within 10 days of seeing the copy of the bill of lading, it is deemed that the buyer has voluntarily waived the right to the goods, and the buyer agrees to the shipper to dispose of the goods independently.
or:
If the buyer (specific name) fails to pay the payment within 10 days of seeing the copy of the bill of lading, the clause is automatically activated: the buyer (specific name) voluntarily waives the right to dispose of the goods on the ticket, the shipper is free to dispose of it, can be returned or Resell to any other third party!
Remember, you must ask the customer to sign back!
Many people will say, how can a customer sign it?
If the client is a serious businessman, he is not deliberately deceiving you, he will definitely sign it, because this is a normal contract clause and does not harm any interests of the client.
Therefore, when the customer has not paid for the goods, the contract will work. The friend gave the contract to the local agent, the agent showed it to the customs, and the Turkish customs released it.
I don't know if all customs will recognize this contract model, but since there is hope of success, it must be 100 points.
Someone may have said, why do you have to pay at the copy of the bill of lading? Wouldn't it be better to do 100% TT before? Who doesn't want to do a risk-free business? If you can do the TT before, who will do payment at the copy of the bill of lading, who will do the letter of credit, who will do the DP or even the OA?
Due to competition, helpless! It's like a big brother commenting on my face of slavery, because I said that I must express first, and then ask questions, because I said that even if the customer's information is incomplete, we must first deliver the value, and then ask about the specific configuration, if at the very least Foreign trade business can also be regarded as a minion, so are those who accept these non-former TT payment methods also a minion?
Persevere in self and only do TT; adhere to self and only do high value; adhere to self and wait for customers to take the initiative, and never take the initiative! Maybe this is the real hero, but I can't do it now. Apart from a few top players, how many people can do it?
Recently, container freight has soared! The number of empty ships in the market has drastically reduced. In order to preserve space, container shipping companies have started to "grab ships" in the leasing market.
Under such circumstances, Mediterranean Shipping MSC, the world's second-largest container shipping company, even started the direct ship purchase model and purchased two container ships again. It is worth mentioning that this is the 11th ship purchased by the company in a short period of time.
Alphaliner said that the large container ships currently available are insufficient, and most shipping companies have set new records for daily rent. It is particularly noteworthy that even the classic Panamax vessel of 4,000-5,300 TEU, which has suffered "years of suffering", has now risen to an incredible level, which was unimaginable a few months ago.
Driven by strong market demand, container shipping companies have begun to find ways to mobilize all available container ships.
Industry insiders pointed out that the global container shipping market is reappearing in the situation of "a ship is hard to find and a box is hard to find". The mainstream shipping companies have booked space until late December, and it is predicted that high freight rates will continue until around the Spring Festival. High freight rates and high volumes will drive the explosive growth of shipping companies in the fourth quarter.
The "biggest" title changes hands?
Recently, MSC has successively sold and purchased multiple container ships. It is imaginative: Is the title of the world's largest container shipping company changing?
In addition to the two new container ships purchased by MSC as mentioned above, MSC also recently purchased another larger 5,642 TEU Panamax container ship Granville Bridge (built in 2006) from Japanese owner Doun Kisen. ), and neither party has announced the selling price.
It is worth mentioning that the sister ship of Granville Bridge, Greenville Bridge, was also sold by Doun Kisen to MSC earlier this month, with a disclosed price of US$14 million.
At the same time as Greenville Bridge, MSC also purchased another 2510TEU feeder container vessel named Bomar Hermes.
At the end of last month, MSC also spent US$158 million to purchase six large container ships of 7,500-8500TEU from the German shipowner company.
Among them, MSC paid US$114 million for 4 ships of 8,200TEU-8,500TEU. These 4 ships were 8,200TEU ER Tianping and R Tianshan and 8,500TEU ER Tokyo and ER Texas. The above 4 ships Both were built in 2006.
And the 7,849TEU ER Vancouver built in 2003 and the ER Yokohama built in 2004, packaged for $44 million.
Two days before this, MSC also purchased another Panamax container ship called Baltic East from South Korea's Changjin Merchant Marine for US$10 million.
In other words, MSC "buy" 11 ships in more than 20 days.
In addition, industry insiders said that MSC is also very likely to sign a series of large orders for 23,000 teu container ships recently.
In contrast, Maersk, the world's largest shipping company, is very calm. Recently, Maersk released its financial report for the third quarter of this year. The company’s CEO Shi Suoren added when introducing the company’s third-quarter performance report that Maersk currently has no plans to build 20,000+ TEU ships. The company only stated that some of the 10,000 TEU to 15,000 TEU ships are aging and need to be replaced, because being the original owner is more cost-effective than chartering. The company will maintain the current fleet capacity of about 4 million TEUs.
Shi Suoren said, "We are very aware of the technical risks of currently ordering ships," he added.
Analysts from Copenhagen-based sea intelligence pointed out in a report released recently that MSC may soon replace Maersk and become the world's largest shipping company.
According to the latest data from Alphaliner, the current container ship capacity of Mediterranean Shipping is 3,855,684 TEU, and the company has 5 new large ships waiting for delivery. The total capacity of these 5 new ships is 115,000 TEU. After all ships are delivered, MSC’s The total capacity will reach 3970684TEU.
Maersk’s current operating capacity is 4094302 TEU, order capacity is 46140 TEU, and the total capacity including new ship orders is 4140442 TEU.
Consolidation market is hot
The price of the container shipping market has continued to run at a high level recently. On November 13, the latest Shanghai Export Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange was 1857.33 points, an increase of 11.6% over the previous period. The SCFI index has hit a new high since the 2008 financial crisis.
Zhang Yongfeng, director of the International Shipping Research Institute of Shanghai International Shipping Research Center, analyzed to a reporter from China Securities News that the recent epidemic in Europe and the United States has rebounded sharply. Import demand for daily necessities is strong, market volume is rising, container supply is tight, and the spot market freight rate The sharp increase drove the comprehensive freight index to rise.
"November is generally the traditional off-season for container shipping. This year's market conditions have far exceeded expectations. At present, the container shipping market has relatively abundant cargo and higher freight rates, continuing the pre-hot trend." Zhang Yongfeng said.
Data from the China Ports Association show that my country's foreign trade imports and exports have continued to improve recently, especially exports have further accelerated. In early November, the container throughput of the eight major hub ports increased by 13.1% year-on-year, an increase of 6 percentage points from the previous period. The foreign trade container throughput of the eight hub ports increased by 11.5% year-on-year, and the domestic trade increased by 18.3% year-on-year, both significantly faster than the previous period. In terms of subregions, the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions have seen strong growth in foreign trade business, with Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Shenzhen growing at over 10%. Among them, the growth rate of Ningbo Zhoushan Port reached 33%.
With strong demand in the container shipping market, international shipping freight prices have continued to rise since June this year, and shipping prices on European routes, Persian Gulf routes, and South American routes have all increased significantly. At the same time, the domestic export container freight index is also rising sharply.
Han Jun, chief analyst of CITIC Construction Investment Transportation, believes that from the current situation, most shipping companies have already booked the space in late December. On November 22, major routes such as the European route will still see a rise in freight rates. According to information from major liner companies, freight rates will remain at a high level before the Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival next year, the shipping company will implement the suspension plan as usual. The maintenance of freight rates at a high level after March is a high probability event.
Zhang Yongfeng believes that the reason for the recent boom in the shipping market is the result of multiple factors. On the one hand, due to the impact of the global epidemic, demand was suppressed in the first half of the year, and many businesses had the need to replenish inventory; on the other hand, a large number of epidemic prevention materials were exported, and the demand for home shopping in overseas markets increased. In addition, the poor turnover of shipping containers further pushed up freight rates.
In a recent survey conducted by investors, CIMC said: “Currently, our company’s container orders have been scheduled to around the Spring Festival next year. The demand in the container market has increased significantly recently. The reasons are that first, affected by the epidemic, exported containers are scattered all over the world. The return is not smooth; second, foreign governments have introduced financial stimulus such as the epidemic relief plan, which has led to super strong performance on the demand side (such as living and office supplies) in the short term, and the housing economy is booming. It is currently judged that the “lack of boxes” situation will continue for at least some time. But the whole year of next year is not clear."
CITIC Construction Investment Research Report believes that the fundamental reason is the continuous and rapid growth of the demand side. According to data from the Container Trade Statistics Corporation (CTS), the growth rate of global container shipping trade volume remained flat in July 2020, and cargo volume accelerated in August and September. The volume of cargo in September increased by nearly 8% year-on-year. Looking at the year-on-year growth rate of the east-west trunk routes, the demand on the two major routes continued to expand, and the US route even expanded to a growth rate of more than 20%.
The research report pointed out that in the medium term, the replenishment of inventory in the US retail and wholesale industry has not yet ended, and the inventory cycle will last for at least half a year, laying the foundation for continuous improvement in demand. The achievement of RCEP can significantly reduce tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers, further strengthen the position of the manufacturing center in the Far East, and lay the foundation for the growth of regional maritime trade. In addition, from the supply side, the proportion of shipbuilding orders held is at the lowest level in history. Even considering the impact of new shipbuilding, the delivery period will be after the second half of 2023, and there is no basis for large-scale launch of capacity.
"It is still hard to say that the shipping industry has recovered in an all-round way. Overall, the global epidemic is a bad factor for the shipping industry. The epidemic has changed the cycle of cargo shipments, and traditional shipping seasonal characteristics are not so obvious." Zhang Yongfeng said.
Consolidation company makes a big profit
In the third quarter just past, the container shipping market experienced a shortage of containers and skyrocketing ocean freight. At the same time, all liner companies continue to implement strict capacity management and cost control. In this context, liner companies’ performance has increased significantly.
Despite the decline in cargo volume, through combing the performance of various liner companies, in the third quarter of 2020, the revenue of 10 major liner companies in the world is still higher than the same period last year. All 10 liner companies achieved profits in the third quarter, with a total profit of 3.412 billion U.S. dollars, which was less than 800 million U.S. dollars in the same period last year, which was 4.27 times the same period last year.
Among them, Maersk has the highest profit, reaching 1.043 billion US dollars, and it is also the only liner company with a profit of 1 billion. Evergreen Shipping's profit increased the most, with a year-on-year increase of nearly 60 times.
In addition, there are three liner companies that are particularly interesting.
Among them, Star Shipping's performance in the third quarter increased by 28 times. Who would have thought that this company was once on the verge of bankruptcy. More importantly, Star Shipping has seized this opportunity in the e-commerce market and opened multiple e-commerce routes this year, driving a substantial increase in performance.
In addition, Yangming Shipping ended its long-term loss and achieved quarterly profit for the first time. But at the end of September just before the announcement of the results, Yangming Shipping announced the retirement of its former chairman Xie Zhijian. But for this achievement, old coach Xie Zhijian contributed a lot.
Finally, HMM stabilized its profitability. HMM once ended 21 consecutive quarters of losses in the second quarter of this year. At that time, the industry had different views on whether it could continue to make profits in the third quarter. The market situation has created opportunities for HMM.
On the whole, with operating income basically remaining stable, the major liner companies have achieved profits several times or even dozens of times the same period last year, which can be said to have made a lot of money.
Looking ahead to next year, the analysis agency Sea-Intelligence also changed its previous forecast, predicting that the pre-interest and tax (EBIT) of the container shipping industry in 2020 will reach 14.2 billion US dollars. In April of this year, the agency predicted that the impact of the epidemic might cost the entire shipping industry US$23 billion.
Sea-Intelligence said: "There is no doubt that the performance of liner companies in 2020 will not only far exceed last year, but even better than the level of the past 8 years."
This forecast conclusion is based on the increase in freight and freight volume.
Data from Container Trades Statistics shows that in the first nine months of 2020, global container shipping volumes have fallen by 3.4%. However, the cargo volume situation has reversed sharply in recent months. In September this year, the global container shipping volume has increased by 6.9%.
Based on this, Sea-Intelligence believes: "If this growth is maintained in the fourth quarter, the global container shipping volume will only fall by 0.8% in 2020."
After the end of the third quarter, some large liner companies such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd also raised their full-year profit expectations. CMA CGM also stated that the market will remain strong for the rest of this year.
Although most liner companies are still more cautious about the market prospects and believe that next year's situation is unpredictable, Drewry believes that despite the second wave of the epidemic, they have optimistic expectations for liner companies' earnings in 2021.
It is reported that the Port of Colombo has a backlog of 50,000 teu of cargo, causing South Asian transshipment cargo into chaos.
In the past few weeks, the Sri Lankan capital has been locked down due to the epidemic, and since the beginning of October, the city’s container terminal labor shortage has caused serious congestion.
Today, this dilemma is affecting the supply chains of neighboring India and Bangladesh.
According to Rohan Masakorala, CEO of Shippers' Academy Colombo, the Port of Colombo has reduced the number of employees by about 30%, which has dealt a major blow to the efficiency of crane production and trucking between freight stations.
"The backlog of orders and goods is very large, and it may take six to eight weeks to clean up."
"Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) mainly focuses on transshipment, while the other two terminals are responsible for feeder ships, so there is an urgent need for transshipment between terminals." He said.
"The lack of truck drivers means that containers are starting to accumulate in the storage area of the port. This also means that it affects feeder ships, sometimes waiting for more than a week, and then even the mainline ships have to be delayed by one to two days."
▲Colombo port congestion: a backlog of 50,000 TEUs caused delays and increased freight rates
Masakorala said that given that Colombo handles approximately 600,000 TEUs per month, regional feeders and connectivity are being severely damaged, and carriers are forced to ship containers to India, Singapore and Dubai.
He added: “Of course, Colombo is not the only port affected by the new crown epidemic, but as a transshipment hub, the impact is much greater and the entire region will be affected. Even now, there are still 23 ships waiting for berths, and Usually the port receives 12-16 ships every day, so there are quite a lot of ships waiting at the window."
He explained that it is inevitable that Colombo’s freight has doubled, and shippers need to book eight weeks in advance to get a seat.
Masakorala said: “Some shippers have been waiting in Colombo for four weeks and two weeks in Singapore.” “Freight forwarders have been severely affected, so some urgent cargo must be transported by air or to a third port, which increases Cost and shipping time."
He added that, given that ports in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan are fully operational, there are now concerns that the port’s reputation may be damaged. Sri Lanka is ambitious and hopes to become a global shipping and logistics hub as famous as Dubai and Singapore. However, Mr. Masakorala said that the LCL loading and unloading and customs clearance and consolidation operations of FCL have been "seriously affected."
Recently, foreign trade forwarders who transshipped through this port have mainly paid attention to it, for fear of delays and additional costs.
Colombo handled 7.2 million TEUs in 2019, but Mr. Masakorala believes that the port’s throughput will drop by 10-20% this year.
Air freight is a mode of transportation that uses airplanes or other aircraft as carriers, and is generally divided into ordinary air transportation and express delivery. Compared with marine transportation and land transportation, it has the following characteristics:
1. Fast delivery
2. Low damage rate and good safety
3. Unaffected by ground conditions, large space span
4. It can save related costs for production enterprises
5. High freight rate
6. Limited capacity
7. Vulnerable to weather
Therefore, Air freight is most suitable for transporting urgently needed materials, fresh and live commodities, precision instruments, machinery and equipment, electronic accessories and valuables.
1. Waybill
(1) Master airway bill (MAWB): Master airway bill, a transport document issued by the airline, not a proof of delivery.
(2) HAWB: House airway bill, a transport document issued by a freight forwarding company, not a proof of delivery.
2. Random files
The documents transferred with the aircraft generally include MAWB, HAWB (if any), manifest, packing list for customs clearance, commercial invoice, CO (if any), etc., a set of documents for customs clearance for foreign customers.
Express delivery does not require random documents, just attach an invoice when shipping.
3. Bulk goods & heavy goods
Bubble goods: commonly known as light goods, volume weight> actual weight
Heavy cargo: actual weight>volume weight
