transportation Archives

March 8, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

Container freight rates trends

The spot freight rates for containers from Asia to Europe and from Asia to the United States fell further from record highs last week. However, it is expected to remain high for a period of time.

There has been a sharp drop during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, but the rate is expected to remain high

Jeremy Nixon, CEO of Japanese liner company Ocean Network Express (ONE), believes that the freight market will not stabilize before the middle of this year.

The Lowe's Daily said that in the absence of a sharp decline in traditional freight volumes after the Chinese New Year, the spot freight rates for Asia-Europe and Trans-Pacific trade are still at historical highs; the spot exchange rate flexibility during the Spring Festival shows that the factors that support price increases are still Need to be alleviated. Cargo backlogs, port congestion, equipment shortages and continued high throughput mean shippers are still being charged premiums on the main trade routes.

The Drewry Composite Index shows that although it has fallen 2.2% in the past week, it is still 232.6% higher than a year ago. The year-to-date WCI average composite index assessed by Drewry is US$5,231 per 40-foot container, which is US$3539 higher than the five-year average of US$1,692 per 40-foot container.

The Drewry Composite Container Index fell 2.2% (US$117) to US$5121.04 per 40-foot container.

The freight from Shanghai to Rotterdam dropped by US$286, reaching US$8188/FEU;

The freight from Shanghai to Los Angeles dropped by 130 USD, reaching 4,261 USD/FEU;

The freight rate of the 40-foot container from Shanghai to Genoa fell by US$106 to US$8,505;

The freight from Shanghai to New York rose by 23 dollars to reach 6,651 dollars/FEU.

Drewry expects rates to stabilize relatively this week.

The Ningbo Export Container Freight Index (NCFI) released by the Ningbo Shipping Exchange closed at 2152.91 points, down 4.1% from 2245.32 points last week. Among the 21 routes, the freight index of 5 routes increased, and the freight index of 16 routes decreased. Among the major ports along the "Maritime Silk Road", the freight index of 17 ports fell.

The freight rate of the European-German route dropped as a whole, 3.9% lower than the previous week's European route; the eastern route dropped 4.2%; and the western route dropped 4.9%. While the North American route remained high, the US East route rose 2.5% from last week; the US West route rose 0.2% from last week.

European-German route: In view of the fact that the transportation demand is still recovering after the holiday, the goods hoarded before the holiday have basically been shipped, and the booking price of the European-German route has dropped overall. According to Freightos' recent Baltic Index (FBX), the price of 40-foot containers from Asia to Northern Europe fell 4% a week to US$8004; according to FBX data, in the Far East to Europe transaction, the spot freight rate was as high as US$8,306. /FEU, but fell by US$432 over the weekend to US$7,874/FEU (daily index).

But for Mediterranean ports , the average price dropped by only US$37 last week to US$7,926 per 40 feet.

Moreover, many shippers are still obliged to pay additional fees to ensure the availability of containers, and for British ports, a "port fee" of US$2,000 is usually added. A year ago, the FBX index showed that the freight rates per 40 feet in the Nordic and Mediterranean regions were US$1,533 and US$2,130 respectively.

Lory Cheung, an overseas marketing expert at China-based MRF International Forwarding, said that shipping companies must “do everything they can to seize every opportunity” because the shipping market will eventually return to normal. He pointed out: "At present, carriers seem to be more willing to sign long-term contracts with BCO rather than freight forwarders," which shows that shipping companies are working hard to lock the contract price at the highest possible level to avoid the impact of spot market fluctuations.

In fact, the high inflation rate in current transactions is forcing shippers to cancel orders for low-value products. A British non-vessel carrier (NVOCC) stated that he has noticed that a garden furniture importer’s bookings from China have dropped by a third this year.

North American routes: The market's freight volume has recovered faster than in previous years, and the route's loading rate remains high. According to the Freeghtos Baltic Index, since the end of February, freight rates outside of Asia have decreased, and the spot freight rate for Pacific Eastbound transactions has dropped from a high of US$4922/FEU on February 26 to US$4197 on March 4. /FEU. However, by March 5, the spot freight rate soared again to US$4,709/FEU. At the same time, in the Trans-Pacific region, the West Coast portion of FBX in the United States fell 11% last week to $4,369 per 40 feet. Freightos expects this decline to be temporary, given the strong demand for trade.

The FBX index for US East Coast ports fell 3% to $5659/FEU.

Freightos research director Judah Levine said: "Although the rates are falling, they may remain very high for a period of time." "As the US retail inventory level is still very low, it may take until the end of this year to restore normal inventory."

According to the latest data from the signal platform of the Port of Los Angeles, the volume of inbound containers this week reached 175,300 TEU, an increase of 505.56% over the same period last year. There are 17 container ships berthing at anchorages, and 10 container ships waiting to be anchored outside the port, with an average waiting time of 7.5 days.

Last week, even if the freight rates of the two major trade routes from China to the United States and Europe fell, at least 35 to 40 ships were anchored on the west coast of the United States due to congestion in US ports continuing to spread to ports outside North America. More than twenty container ships waited for two weeks to berth. These container ships were loaded with exercise bikes, electronics and other highly sought-after imported goods. Los Angeles Port Director Gene Seroka said at a recent board meeting: "The backlog is expected to continue until midsummer."

Congestion in Southern California, dozens of container ships waiting to berth

Jon Monroe of Worldwide Logistics said that the traffic congestion in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area was mainly caused by the layoff of more than 700 skilled dock workers due to Covid-19 infection. "Due to the complexity of the operating models of multiple terminals in Southern California ports, this situation is more difficult to resolve quickly. Of course, in addition to this, 45% to 50% of imported goods in the United States are transported through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach." He added , The shipping terminal has insufficient storage space, the truck queue at the terminal is also very long, and the chassis continues to be short.

At the same time, Jon Monroe of Jon Monroe Consulting in Washington State suggested that there is evidence that the strong momentum of trade may be maintained until the Chinese New Year in 2022.

The market is unprecedentedly strong, which is bad news for shippers who are struggling to sign new annual contracts from Asia to the United States. "Many people I have spoken to have stated that this will be a fast negotiation," Jon Monroe said. "The question this year is more about'how to ship the product?' rather than'how much is the cost?'"

At present, there is a 40% unbalanced gap in containers in North America. This means that for every 10 containers that arrive, only 4 return, and 6 remain at the arrival port. The average monthly trade between China and the United States is 900,000 TEU, and there is indeed a huge absolute imbalance in containers. In addition, according to the data of consulting company Descartes Datamyne, the current shipment volume is at the highest level in history. In the first quarter of this year, sales increased by 23.3% over the same period last year.

The container shipping crisis has affected various business areas in different ways. For example, the transportation of high-value commodities such as mechanical engineering products, electronic products and computer equipment will be less affected. But for other types of goods, especially the textile industry in Asia, the increase in transportation costs has brought more serious consequences. Exporters claim that the sharp increase in freight rates has led to the closure of many low-profit textile mills. Delays and container shortages are pushing up freight rates. In Asia, delivery delays can be up to several weeks, forcing many companies to negotiate price increases with buyers.

March 8, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

Best Freight Forwarding Services Providers in 2020

When goods are transferred around the world, they rarely go from departure to destination locations in one step. In fact, they may switch between air, ocean, land, and rail carriers before they reach their destination.

Freight forwarders do the work of organizing, planning, and optimizing global trade routes and logistics solutions to facilitate the movement and storage of those goods. They rely on an expansive network of transport vehicles, warehouses, and intermodal points to streamline the movement of goods and cargo across the whole world.

Freight forwarders and logistics companies gather information from shippers, warehousers, truckers, and more to plan the route cargo will take. When they need to incorporate a shipment, an optimized route is already available and ready to utilize.

International Freight Forwarding Services
International freight forwarding services helps ensure an uninterrupted supply chain for international shipping partners. International logistics include foreign customs, duties, regulations, and fees, that are constantly changing and being updated.

It is important for freight forwarders and logistics companies to carefully handle such processes and stay up to date on issues related to global transport. These things can change from day-to-day, and shippers should be aware of cost fluctuations, new regulations, or procedures at both destinations and departure points.

Cost
A shipping company handles transportation services for you, but an industry-leading freight forwarder can help you optimize your time and money. Freight forwarders incorporate your supply chain into an existing and strong network of shipments.

Asiana USA provides door-to-door transportation and logistics services that are meant to reduce overall costs. Our advanced and integrated shipping network allows us to optimize the movement of goods around the United States and the world.

Services
Freight forwarding services include tracking inland transportation, document preparation, warehousing, negotiating fees, insurance, cargo consolidation, and shipping. These services greatly improve shipping for the shipper, receiver, and freight forwarding company.

Ideally, you should seek a partner who can perform all of these services. If you use more than one or all of these services, this will optimize your supply chain and shipping experience overall.

Mode of Transport

The best freight forwarding service providers make use of all modes of travel. Optimizing shipping routes using land, rail ocean, and air freight allows for an extended network of travel to and from multiple intermodal drayage points.

Drayage shipping means that cargo is moved between major intermodal points using high-volume transport such as a ship or train. Then, smaller vehicles will move them to the cargo to its final destination.

Trucks are an efficient way to move cargo and single containers between drayage points. While long-haul trucking has often been used to transport containers long distances, this practice is being replaced by drayage trucking, and other modes of transport are used for longer transport.

This is a safer alternative and more efficient, as truckers can make multiple trips daily. Additionally, truck companies have been incorporating new technology to further optimize the trucking experience, such as automatic transmissions and multiple cameras.

Rail transport is a far more efficient way to move multiple containers long distances. Instead of one driver per truck per container, a train can move over 200 double-stacked containers, use far less energy, and require far less personnel to operate.

It’s a safer, more effective way to move large goods long distances. Using one train where 100 trucks would have been needed also creates less pollution.

Air freight is used for more time-sensitive shipments. As transporting cargo by air poses weight and size restrictions, it is better used for smaller cargo. Due to high demand and higher fuel costs, air travel may be less suitable for heavy supply chains.

However, when cargo needs to travel far overnight, air freight can usually be the best option. Other situations where air freight is preferable is if you are shipping perishable, sensitive or hazardous items where special handling is required.

The majority of shipping occurs via the ocean. Ships carry large container loads and optimize shipping routes between major global trade ports. Transporting large amounts of cargo between major ports all over the world by ship allows for the rest of the shipping industry to flourish.

Over 11 million containers arrive yearly at different ports in the United States, many of which continue their journey by land to different parts of the country.

Final Thoughts
Choose a freight forwarding service that helps your business perform better by optimizing your supply chain, reducing your shipping costs, and deals with complicated international paperwork for you.TJ China Freight provides the best solution and the timely feedback for all kinds of shipment from every city in China by sea, by air and by railway, and we can provide the competitive price based on the best service, meanwhile we can also provide the other best service, including customs clearance, pick up & delivery service, shipping to Amazon FBA, warehousing & Distribution, cargo insurance, container loading supervision and Express,In a Word, everything you want to ship from China, TJ China Freight can always help.

Contact Info

Tel: +86-755-25117540
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E-mail: info@tj-logistics.com.cn
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Address: 7/F,Cunjin building,No.3005 Dongmen south road,Luohu district Shenzhen,Guangdong,China

February 19, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Logistic

Another freight forwarding company was acquired by global logistics giant Rhenus!

German logistics giant Rhenus continues to start crazy "acquisitions"! Following the acquisition of the LOXX Group last month, Rhenus, the harvester in the international freight forwarding market, has taken another move, bringing BLG Logistics Group, a well-known local freight forwarding company in Germany, under its umbrella.

Rhenus Group is a leading logistics service provider in Germany, with operations all over the world, with an annual turnover of 5.5 billion euros. Rhenus has operations in 750 regions around the world and has 33,000 employees. The Rhenus Group provides solutions for different areas in the entire supply chain; including multimodal transportation, warehousing, customs clearance and innovative value-added services.

BLG hopes to focus on its contract, automobile and container businesses, and sell BLG International Forwarding's international freight business to Rhenus. Since 2018, Rhenus has acquired almost all regions of the world; Rhenus will provide its service network for the rest of BLG's business .

Rhenus will take over BLG’s 9 air and sea freight stations in April and integrate these stations with approximately 100 employees into its network of 12 branches in Germany. This new business will enable the company to handle more traffic through its LCL hub in Hilden and the air cargo hub in Frankfurt.

Rhenus said the company also plans to expand its food business, trade fairs and event logistics operations. "In the past few years, we have paved the way for the continuous expansion of air and ocean freight," said Stefan Schwind, general manager of air and ocean freight at Rhenus Germany.

"Due to the addition of business sites, employees and business activities, we are consolidating our network in the German aviation and maritime sectors. We also hope to develop new business areas, such as the use of refrigerated containers to transport food, and in trade fairs and event logistics. Activities."

BLG said it will retain its freight forwarding business in Bremen, focusing on land and sea transportation of heavy and project cargo. Board member Jens Wollesen said: "Even if we no longer have representatives throughout Germany in freight forwarding, we will continue to provide a wide range of international services in our contract, automotive and container sectors."

Last month, Rhenus stated that it would take over the LTL and FTL cross-border specialist LOXX Group and established five business sites in Germany and Poland to strengthen its business in Germany and Europe.

In the past two years, Rhenus has made frantic acquisitions. From Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom to Canada to South Africa and the United States, all freight forwarding companies that Rhenus favors have been acquired.

Recent "acquisition list":

In November 2018, it acquired German freight forwarding SBL;

Acquired the Italian logistics company Cesped in December 2018;

Acquired British freight forwarding Core Management logistics in January 2019;

Acquired Rodair, a Canadian freight forwarder, in early March 2019;

Acquired World Net Logistics, a well-known freight forwarder in South Africa at the end of March 2019;

Acquired LOXX Group in January 2021;

Acquired BLG Logistics Group's freight forwarding in January 2021.

February 18, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

Air Cargo Trends in a Pandemic World

Dominic Hyde, Vice President Crēdo On Demand at Peli BioThermal, discusses the developing trends in freight that have come about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previous predications in pharmaceutical transportation trends, highlighting declining air passenger numbers and increasing air freight demand, have all been propelled by the pandemic. Coronavirus continues to cause worldwide disruption and is anticipated to impact industry throughout 2021 and beyond.

Pandemic response - preighters take off

Pre-pandemic passenger numbers were already on the downturn. However, the crisis has significantly accelerated that trend and the crisis capacity crunch came as the number of passenger flights plummeted. The ensuing scramble to transport pandemic payloads saw the deployment of hundreds of passenger planes as freighters, known as ‘preighters’.

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Pioneering Portuguese charter operator Hi Fly led this trend, being the first to convert an A380 for freight by removing the majority of seats

Pioneering Portuguese charter operator Hi Fly led this trend, being the first to convert an A380 for freight by removing the majority of seats to provide more cargo capacity. Despite the sector seeing the grounding of hundreds of passenger planes, earlier than had been initially forecast, which led to a reduction in the availability of cargo space, we’ve seen more planes undergo such conversions.

However, the ongoing drastic downturn in travel means the loss of a lot of capacity in passenger aircraft, and while freighter aircraft are still present and working hard, fleet growth takes time, so there will be a slower response to replacing some of the capacity lost from the passenger side of the industry.

Large widebody aircraft – grounded or retired

Before COVID-19, it was predicted that airlines would cut flights from schedules, mothball larger aircraft, decline production options, and look to utilise smaller, more efficient aircraft – whether for environmental or economic reasons. All those decisions have now been massively accelerated. The forecast to park some of the larger, widebody aircraft has been brought forward significantly due to the COVID-19 crisis, and its ongoing impact has meant the majority of all 747 freighter aircraft have or are being retired. The A380, which Airbus had previously announced it would stop deliveries of in 2021, has also been retired across the board by numerous airlines.

Increasingly, airlines are grounding their A380s in favour of more modern, smaller jets that can fly more efficiently than their four-engine aviation counterparts.

What we will continue to see is a lot more interest in leaner aircraft, such as the A220, the Canadian Bombardier aircraft produced by Airbus in North America.

Sea change in modes of transport

There will be ongoing developments in the sea freight sector too, which has an estimated 17 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) serviceable globally, of which six million containers are routinely turning and carrying freight.

Uncertainty in sea and air freight availability saw pharma companies initially ship everything they could, by any mode of transport available, to get it out to the markets. Following months of disruption, passenger airlines began loading aircraft with cargo in the lower decks and loose load cargo on the upper decks.

Whereas I was hoping things might be back to some kind of normality in March, I am now inclined to add another quarter to that. I now think there will be exacerbated sea freight and sea container availability issues throughout the first half of 2021.

Given the sea freight situation, we will continue to see the utilisation of air freight to transport pandemic payloads. When it comes to economics, without the passengers on the main deck is a much more expensive operational option. However, pharma customers are prepared to pay those premiums.

The volumetric efficiency on aircraft is critical at the moment because it is such a scarce resource. We need to ensure the best use is made of it. With air freight capacity a dwindling resource, it is even more important to have the efficient packing density of temperature-controlled products on such limited air freight resources.

Vaccines vs. virus - rapid response

As the development of successful COVID-19 vaccines continues, approved vaccines are already being administered as part of ongoing mass vaccination programmes worldwide. Temperature-controlled packaging manufacturers continue to play a pivotal part in the global deployment of these, but as COVID-19 vaccines fall into different families of technology, some have frozen and deep-frozen temperature requirements, leading to a scramble to qualify existing solutions for shipping at those specific lower temperatures.

In a rapid response to the logistical cold chain challenges involved, we have adapted our shippers to meet those requirements, as have other providers. There has been an impetus for innovation to support these temperatures in volume. Suppliers stepped up to meet the vaccine temperature challenges by adapting existing shipping solutions. The capacity is there, so I don’t anticipate it will be an issue going forward.

The focus is reverted back to the capacities in the transport modes and – given the nature of these drugs – people are paying whatever it costs to ship them, with rates rising sharply from $2.5 a kilo to $23 – although, that is starting to calm down.

Beyond the current vaccines being approved there will be the need to provide boosters. It is going to create a recurring step up in the volume of vaccines being shipped, alongside the flu vaccines being transported and other pharmaceutical payloads every year.

There will not be a continuous crisis. There will rather be a continuing trend for smaller aircraft with reduced air freight capacities moving pharmaceutical products at temperatures that sea freight cannot do. It really can only fly.

However, there’s not going to be a modal shift from air to sea because sea cannot meet the temperature requirements. You get a displacement, whereby COVID-19 shipments, whether vaccines, test kits and reagents, or some of the therapies which help with recuperation, are flying at almost any cost on a dwindling resource.

The pharmaceuticals, which have more normal temperature shipping requirements, get displaced. In that situation, when the air freight rates get so high, sea freight would normally be seen as a shipping solution.

However, with all of the sea freight challenges, coupled with the fact that their transportation rates have also doubled, there has been some displacement – although not as much as pharma companies would have liked, which is what has kept pushing the prices up in the region of the $23 a kilo figure for air freight we had seen previously in the market.

Sea freight will improve in the first six months of 2021, so some of that displacement can take place more efficiently. Aircraft, however, will still be loaded with COVID-19 related products.

2021 will see the industry learning to operate in ‘the new norm’. Next year, we might start to see some improvements and efficiencies, but I think this year is about adjusting our planning, our capacities and our operations around this spike in demand and the gradually improving capacity picture. Almost like wearing in a new pair of shoes.

February 18, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

Congestion in West America worsens!

Recently, a cold wave swept the United States and quickly plunged the southern state of Texas into disaster. In this unprecedented cold wave, more than 4 million people in the United States have suffered power outages, countless power plants have been destroyed, and electricity and natural gas prices have skyrocketed. ; At present, the price of electricity in Texas has increased by more than 100 times, up to 9,000 US dollars per megawatt, and the price of natural gas has skyrocketed by more than 160 times, reaching US$500, compared with only US$3 in the past; it is jaw-dropping.

Except for Texas, which is in a serious disaster, other states in the United States are not doing well. There are about 168 million people in the United States under the threat of this cold wave. Numerous airports have been suspended. According to data from the flight monitoring website "flightaware", Dallas and Houston , Austin area airports have cancelled more than 2,000 inbound and outbound flights on the 15th . Coupled with the new crown pneumonia crisis that is still raging across the United States, the United States is really miserable.

In terms of shipping, the Southern California anchorage is full of container ships, and the congestion continues to worsen ! The latest video released by the U.S. Coast Guard provides intuitive evidence of the congestion levels in Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. From the picture, a large number of container ships are moored at the anchorage in San Pedro Bay, California.

Congestion in West America worsens! Aerial photography of Southern California full of container ships! Terminal operators expect to get rid of the dilemma by the end of spring — U.S. Coast Guard aerial scene

Data shows that the historic container ship congestion in California ports has not really eased. There are currently 63 container ships in Los Angeles and Long Beach, and 32 container ships are waiting for berths at anchorages. (On February 1st, the highest record of 40 container ships anchored at anchorage)

The Port of Los Angeles announced the number of berth days for a particular container ship through its Signal platform last week. Data shows that some ships stay at anchorage and wait for almost as long as they sail across the Pacific Ocean . For example, as of last Thursday, the 6332TEU container ship "Ever Envoy" has been parked for 11 days. As of Tuesday, the 9,400TEU "MSC Romane" has been parked for 12 days. And the three container ships of 11356TEU "CMA CGM Andromeda", 8452 TEU "Ever Liven" and 4888TEU "NYK Nebula" also berthed for 11 days as of last week.

As of the end of 2020, the number of container ships at anchor has increased to 30; since then, it has remained between 20 and 40. At the same time, the number of vessels at berths in Los Angeles and Long Beach remained at around 20 and 30. Kip Louttit, executive director of the Southern California Shipping Exchange, said: "We seem to have adapted to the new normal of about 30 container ships waiting in line every day. I don't know if this situation will continue."

As of Tuesday, the average time for ships docking in Los Angeles was 8 days , up from 7.3 days at the beginning of last week. From the information on the waiting time of ships provided by the platform from January 27th, the waiting time for ships to berth has been maintained for about one week, and the data for the last two periods has been extended to 8 days.

　　The latest data from the Signal platform: 20 ships at anchor, with an average anchoring time of 8.0 days. There are 14 ships waiting to be pre-anchored.

What caused the blockage? The extended berthing time of ships forced some shipping companies to cancel multiple voyages this month. This is not due to lack of cargo demand, but due to lack of available vessels to handle these services. Delays on land have also caused congestion at sea: extremely high inbound volumes and complex logistics inside and outside the port have caused delays on land. One of the challenges facing the port is the new crown virus infection of dockers and a serious shortage of labor.

Despite productivity gains last month, terminal operators at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach said the ports may have to wait until the end of spring to get rid of the ship backlog and congestion that have plagued them in the past six months . The near-record number of containers will continue into the spring of this year, but the backlog of ships at the port and the fully loaded inbound containers at the terminal should disappear sometime between April and June.

The managers of SSA Marine, Yusen Terminals and Fenix Marine stated that in order to alleviate the congestion in the port, two projects to be developed are necessary. First, the COVID-19 vaccine must be widely distributed among dock workers to alleviate the recent labor shortage. During the Lunar New Year holiday this month, container traffic has declined moderately, which should also enable shipping terminals to remove the backlog of fully loaded imported containers from their facilities.

"The terminals are full and there is no place to put these containers. We deliver 35% less cargo (to truck drivers) than usual," said Ed Dannick, president of SSA Containers.

According to data from the HarborTrucking Association, the average truck stay at the terminal in January improved from 93 minutes in December to 88 minutes, but it was still much higher than the record low of 58 minutes in June. Imports peaked during the recovery period after the first wave of COVID-19 lockdown.

The backlog of ships in Long Beach, Los Angeles, is increasing unabated. According to statistics from the Marine Exchange of Southern California, there are currently 63 container ships in the Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles, of which 32 are at anchor waiting for berths and 31 are at berths.

The latest data released by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) shows that in December last year, the average container stay time at the 12 terminals of the Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles was 4.99 days. This is twice the average length of stay (approximately 2.5 days) recorded by PMSA in the first half of 2020.

“The longer the container stays at the terminal, the more serious the congestion will be. When the container piles up like a mountain, the congestion creates additional and inefficient handling requirements,” said PMSA’s government affairs manager jessicaalvarenga.

The new crown epidemic hits labor in the port

According to the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the West Coast port employers' Association and the International Terminal and Warehouse Union (ILWU), the new crown epidemic has severely affected the labor force along the Los Angeles-Long Beach Port. As of January 17, The International Terminal and Warehouse Union (ILWU) reported that 694 of its members tested positive. By January 25, this number jumped to 803.

PMA stated that there is a particular shortage of skilled equipment operators, who need to remove containers from trucks, and then move them into and out of the container yard, which is critical to the operation of the terminal. As a result, the joint committee of PMA and ILWU, which is responsible for allocating workers to the docks on a daily basis, cut the allocation share.

"It boils down to the labor issue at the terminal," said Scott Weiss, vice president of business development at Port Logistics Group, which has a large number of truck and warehouse operations throughout Southern California. "Containers still have bottlenecks in and out of the terminal."

The latest information released by the Signal platform of the Port of Los Angeles shows that due to the new crown epidemic, the productivity of coastal labor has decreased, which has caused ship delays and the average delay of port facilities is 8.0 days .

These ports are working with trans-Pacific shipping companies to reduce Southern California's load until the volume returns to normal. Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said that he is working with shipping companies and terminal operators to "measure" imports until the port catches up. Hapag-Lloyd (Hapag-Lloyd) has announced the opening of a structured route to Southern California in February, and CMA CGM will remove Los Angeles from the trans-Pacific route and use Oakland as the first port of call from Asia. , Followed by Seattle-Tacoma.

The terminal operator said that when workers throughout the supply chain are vaccinated and imports drop, the congestion in Long Beach, Los Angeles, will disappear.

Spring recovery?

Alan McCorkle, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles, said that in the past six months, the container throughput of these terminals was close to record levels, but there was no overall congestion. This fact shows that if the peak season does not last for six consecutive months, they will have Ability to handle peak season cargo volume. He expects to return to normal in May or June.

Scott Schoenfeld, general manager of Fenix Marine Services in Los Angeles, said that Fenix is showing signs of improvement, so he is optimistic that congestion may be eased as early as April . The density of containers in the yard is not as high as late last year, and more truck drivers are able to transport containers every day.

However, container traffic is still rising, and as overloaded ships continue to arrive in Southern California, this trend will continue until at least next month. NVOCC consultant Jon Monroe said that the eastbound transpacific shipping company has deployed or will add 10 additional loading vessels in February, all deployed at the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach. Judging from the latest data from the Los Angeles Signal platform, there was another peak in the surge in volume in the eighth week.

Volume surged in the eighth week

Jon Monroe pointed out that although more Chinese factories will continue to maintain at least part of their business this month to clear the backlog of merchandise orders compared to previous years, the total volume of the East Pacific trans-Pacific region should be greater than the previous six months. Months are less.

Scott Weiss, vice president of business development at Port Logistics Group, said that the 1.8 billion square feet of industrial and distribution space throughout Southern California is not fully loaded, just like last fall before the holiday season merchandise was transferred to stores across the country. However, the availability of space in warehouses and distribution facilities has been mixed. "Some warehouses are in a mess now, others are working well. I think the ratio is about 50-50,"

Scott Weiss said that productivity has generally declined, and warehouses across the region are experiencing labor shortages due to the new crown epidemic, but at the same time, freight volumes are still exceptionally strong. "Everyone I contacted is experiencing record sales and growth, but everyone is working hard to cope."

Weston LaBar, CEO of the Port Transportation Association, said that the current truck capacity is tight, and the availability of workers at both ends of the truck driver's route, the terminal and the distribution warehouse, has been challenged . However, when workers feel safe, they return in large numbers. LaBar said: "The most effective thing we can do right now is to vaccinate."

February 5, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

The Port of Los Angeles is also missing container!

For most of 2020, the Port of Los Angeles has been struggling to deal with the problem of container surplus. Now that there has been a dramatic turning point, the Port of Los Angeles has also experienced a shortage of containers.

The Port of Los Angeles is also missing boxes!

According to the latest statistics from Container xChange, a professional organization in the container monitoring field, the Container Availability Index for 40-foot containers in the Port of Los Angeles has dropped to 0.29.

Container xChange’s marketing director explained: “In the 49th week of 2020, the port’s availability index value for 20-foot containers and 40-foot containers plummeted to 0.27. Compared with the average index from week 1 to week 8 of 2020, these two Both containers dropped by 57%."

It is understood that when the container availability index is 0.5, it represents market balance. If it is less than 0.5, it represents a shortage of containers.

This means that the Port of Los Angeles has a serious shortage of containers.

In the previous Port of Los Angeles, due to the large increase in import volume and the epidemic factor, the port was congested on a large scale, and the efficiency of container turnover was very slow. At the peak, 10,000-15,000 containers were stranded at the terminal, and normal operations were severely affected.

According to a research report jointly issued by Container xChange and FraunhoferCML, a maritime logistics research organization, in the third quarter of 2020, there will be approximately 1.5 million containers in the United States with a turnover time of more than 115 days, while the normal average time should be less than 80 days.

Previously, due to the large backlog of containers in the Port of Los Angeles affecting the supply chain, liner companies conducted large-scale empty container deployment to ensure the normal operation of trans-Pacific routes.

As empty containers continue to be shipped back to the Asian market, the situation at the Port of Los Angeles has undergone a dramatic turn.

The industry also analyzes that the current shortage of containers in the Port of Los Angeles is related to the serious port congestion, the imbalance of market supply and demand, and the labor shortage caused by the outbreak of the Los Angeles Port.

Container xChange CEO Johannes Schlingmeier previously stated that since the summer of 2020, the U.S. container transportation supply chain has been under pressure, and the Port of Los Angeles is facing labor shortages caused by the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.

Lars Jensen, CEO of Sea Intelligence, an industry consulting firm, believes: "The main reason for the lack of containers is port congestion."

Regarding when the container shortage will be resolved, Container xChange predicts: "In the next few weeks, as every link in the trans-Pacific route supply chain will face tremendous pressure, container supply will fluctuate further."

Nerijus Poskus, vice president of shipping at Flexport in the United States, believes that the shortage of containers may improve in the second half of 2021.

Lars Jensen said that the lack of containers in the Port of Los Angeles should be resolved before the summer of 2021.

He further explained: "After the international financial crisis in 2008, we also experienced a shortage of containers. The shortage of containers in 2010 took about 3 months from the appearance to the resolution. If we put it now Under the same background, it means that the current lack of containers in the Port of Los Angeles may also be resolved soon."

February 3, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

Do LCL operation skills, common problems in customs declaration

6 operating skills for LCL cargo

1. "Consolidate" is the English word for LCL, which is referred to as "consol" in international trade and transportation.

2. LCL cargo generally cannot accept the designation of a specific shipping company. The shipping company only accepts the booking of FCL cargo, and does not directly accept the booking of LCL cargo, only through freight forwarders (individual strong shipping companies through their logistics The company) can book the space with the shipping company after consolidating the LCL cargo. Almost all LCL cargoes are transported through the “centralized handling and centralized distribution” of the freight forwarding company. The LCL distribution ports in East China are basically It is the port of Shanghai. General freight forwarders can only book space from a few shipping companies due to the limitation of cargo sources, and they rarely meet the needs of designated shipping companies. Therefore, when transacting LCL cargo, try not to accept designated shipping companies to avoid consignment Time can not meet the requirements.

3. When negotiating transactions with customers, pay special attention to the relevant transportation terms, so as not to find out that the transportation terms cannot be met after the other party's letter of credit is issued. In our daily operations, we often encounter L/C regulations stipulating that LCL cargo transportation does not accept freight forwarders’ bills of lading. Because shipping companies do not directly accept LCL cargo bookings, shipping companies’ ocean bills of lading are issued to freight forwarders, and freight forwarders re Issuing HOUSEB/L to the shipper, if the L/C regulations do not accept freight forwarding B/L, there will be no choice when the actual transportation is handled, which will cause L/C inconsistency. Another example, when we handled the transportation, we found a consignment note stating: Goods must be shipped in container on LCL basis and Bill of Lading to evidence the same and to show that all LCL. handling charges, THC and delivery order charges at that port of discharges are prepaid. It can be seen from the original text of the above paragraph of L/C that the consignee has passed all the expenses that should have been borne by him to the consignor. This is because the consignor and the customer did not negotiate in detail on the terms of transport during the trade negotiation. To.

4. The billing tons of LCL cargo shall be accurate. Before delivery of LCL cargo, the factory should be required to measure the weight and size of the goods as accurately as possible. When the goods are delivered to the warehouse designated by the forwarder, the warehouse will generally re-measure, and the re-measured size and weight will be charged. standard. If the factory changes the packaging, the factory should be required to notify in time. Don’t wait for the goods to be delivered to the freight forwarder’s warehouse and feed back the information through the forwarder. Often time is already very tight. If you change the customs declaration documents, it is easy to delay customs declaration or incur expedited customs declaration fees. And port charges.

5. In some ports, due to insufficient supply of LCL and high cost, freight forwarders specializing in LCL adopt the lowest charging standard for goods with a small volume. For example, the minimum is 2 freight tons, that is, less than 2 freight tons. All charges are based on 2 freight tons. Therefore, when the volume of cargo is small, some of these factors should be taken into consideration when the cargo is transacted at the port to avoid passiveness in the future.

6. For some routes and ports that are relatively remote, and customers propose to deliver LCL goods to inland points, it is best to consult before signing the transaction and confirm that there are shipping companies and freight forwarding companies that can handle these remote ports and inland points. Sign the contract after delivery and related expenses.

Summary of common problems in LCL customs declaration

The same foreign customer buys goods from different suppliers in China and then they are assembled into a cabinet and shipped to foreign customers. Sometimes two or three companies fight together, sometimes seven or eight companies fight together. In this case, it is usually a case of customs declaration. , To talk about common problems in customs declaration.

1. Customs declaration method-agent declaration and pay declaration

Because customers purchase from 3 or 4 different factories, some foreign customers find factories that do not have import and export rights for cheaper prices. Although the prices are cheap, they do not have customs declaration documents and need to pay for customs declaration. Therefore, at this time, there will be some agent declarations in the supplier, and some need to pay for customs declaration, especially for goods that require commodity inspection. Therefore, at this time, it is recommended that the goods with documents and the goods with documents are put together in a cabinet, and the goods that pay for customs declaration and pay for customs declaration are combined. Try not to have AB orders, some agents declare and some pay, that is, there are goods that need to be declared in a cabinet, and there are goods that need to be inspected but cannot be inspected and must be paid for declaration, because most ports do not support AB orders A few in the Pearl River Delta, such as Huangpu, Yantian, and Shekou, support AB orders.

2. Destination country

Some of the suppliers of the consolidation are required to declare customs for tax refunds, some do not require tax refunds for general trade small write-offs, and some require commodity inspections with customs clearance forms. At this time, we must pay attention to the customs declaration information of different suppliers. The destination country must be consistent.

There are often two situations. 1. The information to be refunded is more detailed, and the actual destination country is written, and the destination country for small verification of non-refundable tax is just typed. The destination country of the customs declaration data is different. 2. When going to Russia and waiting for some inland points, the unloading port is Poland, and the railway transfers to Russia. At this time, some of the customs declaration documents are written in Poland and some are written in Russia. Lead to inconsistent destination countries. At this time, the destination country Russia is always written, and Poland is only the port of discharge, not the final port of destination.

3. Value

When the cabinets are assembled, the value of each is different. For example, there are three stores A USD4W, B USD4W C, USD 3W

The value of the respective goods does not exceed 10W, and each does not need special export invoices, but because the total value of the goods exceeds 10W or 8W (depending on the port), some ports need to provide value-added tax invoices. I don’t understand the value of other factories. Sometimes the value-added tax invoice may not be mailed.

When the cabinets are assembled, the value of each is different. For example, there are three stores A USD14W, B USD4W C, USD 3W

The total value of the goods exceeds 10W US dollars. As A himself exceeds 10W, A also needs to provide special export invoices. Others only provide value-added tax invoices.

Fourth, the number of LCL

Generally speaking, the number of cabinets assembled will not exceed 8 pieces. In some places, it is 4 pieces. If a supplier purchases from more than a dozen factories, just a dozen factories have customs declaration materials, and this time it will be more than a dozen. Customs declaration materials are combined together for customs declaration. Generally, the customs support no more than 8 fights.

Five, the difference between tax refund and non-refund

There are three suppliers, two of which require tax refunds, and one does not require tax refunds. The total value of the goods exceeds 10W. Previously, only two factories that needed tax refunds would provide value-added tax invoices and special export invoices. Now, on the original basis, they also need non-tax refundable factories to provide Special export invoice.

Sixth, the issue of door closure

As there are more goods, to prevent confusion during customs declaration and inspection, it is best to remember what goods are loaded at the door of the cabinet.

Seven, put together a few cabinets

Sometimes the supplier has more goods and may have to install 2 cabinets.

1. At this time, pay attention to loading the goods of the same company in one container, don't pack A in several squares and B in several squares. If you are not satisfied, you must install two containers separately, and make one more copy of the customs declaration information.

2. Commodity inspection needs to correspond, such as ABC three, A has 70 cubic meters, B has 18 cubic meters, and C has 8 cubic meters. The large cabinet has 50 cubic meters for the A family, 18 cubic meters for the B family, 20 cubic meters for the A family and 8 cubic meters for the C family. When doing commodity inspection, A must do two commodity inspections.

3. Even the counter or separate reports. One of the cabinets was checked during customs declaration, but the other was not checked. Because the cabinets were connected, both cabinets could not be boarded. When reporting separately, those who are inspected will continue to check and wait for the next water, and those who are released can board the ship.

February 2, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

Compared with the cost of shipping FCL and LCL, who is higher?

FCL and LCL

In the container transportation business, we call a container, an exporter, a consignee, and a destination port, and the goods that meet these "four ones" conditions are called FCL, and we call a container, exporter, and consignee. As long as one of the three items in the port of destination is two or more export goods, it is defined as LCL cargo.

The transportation cost of LCL and FCL is very different in terms of procedures, time and cost. The two are by no means "1+1=2, 1+2=3". Similar to the simple relationship between addend and sum, it is a series of strange "inequalities" such as "1+1>2, 1+2>3".

The customs clearance procedures for LCL cargo are more complicated than FCL cargo, and it takes longer

First, the whole container of goods exactly meets the minimum unit of customs inspection, sealing, and release of the exporting and importing countries. For a batch of goods, as long as the documents submitted by the exporter and importer are reasonable, legal and intact, the export customs and import customs will handle it. After the relevant procedures and relevant taxes and fees are collected, customs clearance will be released soon. The LCL cargo will not be so simple and fast. As long as the goods in the container have a single shipment document that is faulty, the export customs will not release the goods. This is because the export customs must seal the exported containers before allowing the loaded containers to leave the country. Therefore, in the same container, the failure of any one of the goods to clear customs will inevitably affect the timely export and transportation of other goods.

Second, LCL cargo is far less extensive and flexible than FCL cargo. It requires additional solicitation by the transportation company and a reasonable combination of some conditions such as the port of shipment, port of destination, delivery date, variety, volume, and weight of the cargo. They are all suitable for exporting goods in the same container. These requirements are very difficult to implement and require a long time. If the transport company consigned by the cargo owner is not strong enough, then the time for cargo transportation will be delayed even longer.

Third, under normal circumstances, FCL cargo can be shipped directly at inland ports, while LCL cargo is only suitable for delivery at developed coastal ports due to relatively few inland sources and relatively more coastal sources. This will undoubtedly add a lot of extra trouble to the exporter. According to the relevant regulations of the Chinese government, exported goods must pass the inspection of the Commodity Inspection Bureau in the place of production and the place of export declaration. If the goods are declared for export within the scope of the province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government) where the goods are produced, only one commodity inspection is required for a batch of goods. Otherwise, if it is a customs declaration in another place, a batch of legally inspected export commodities must pass two inspections before the customs will release it.

LCL cargo is more expensive than FCL

Under normal circumstances, the freight and miscellaneous costs of FCL transportation in sea freight generally include three items: freight, transportation surcharges and port miscellaneous charges. The freight and transportation surcharges for LCL and FCL should be the same. The difference in cost is only in the assembling of the transported goods at the port of shipment and the unpacking at the port of destination.

It stands to reason that these two costs should not be very high. However, due to the huge differences in the level of labor costs between countries and regions in the world, exporters have little or no knowledge of the specific differences. The original LCL cargo ratio The freight cost of the whole container is very reasonable by adding a certain percentage of LCL, unpacking and storage fees on the basis of the overall consistency. However, in order to earn higher profits, carriers often use "fuzzy The method of "learning" does not specify what items will be charged in the quotation, but only generally according to the destination port to which the type of goods are shipped, and the amount of each freight ton is charged, and the port miscellaneous charges are reported temporarily. What's more, the carrier has no obligation to explain, and the shipper has no room for bargaining. The amount of charge depends on the specific circumstances.

In addition, it should be noted that in import and export commodity trade, the larger the quantity and total value of each transaction, the lower the transaction cost. Conversely, the smaller the quantity and total value, the higher the transaction cost.

Compared with FCL cargo, the quantity and total value of LCL cargo are generally smaller. Therefore, from this perspective, the transaction cost of LCL cargo must be higher than FCL cargo. This is because the cost and mailing fee of the finished sample, the communication fee such as fax and telephone, the notification fee of the letter of credit, the customs declaration fee of the import and export goods, the certificate of origin, etc. are all based on the number of copies rather than the business. The size of the amount to be charged. When these business expenses are finally allocated to transaction costs, the unit costs with a large transaction volume will have a small share, and the unit costs with a small transaction volume will have a large share. We should be aware of this.

January 28, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

note! During the Spring Festival, the shipping company will cancel several Nordic voyages, and the time for collecting empty containers in China will be extended, and bulk cargo ships will load container cargo

Ships from Asia to Europe have recently undergone some new changes. Some shipping companies have cancelled multiple voyages, some have added new services, and more and more bulk cargo ships are carrying containerized cargo.

According to reports, HMM will put in an additional 5000 TEU cargo ship on the European route from Busan to Hamburg at the end of this month to meet the shipper’s cargo delivery requirements.

In addition, the shipping company China United Shipping (CU Lines) announced its first direct European route, maiden voyage on February 6, will provide independent services to the Nordic region and deploy a series of small feeder ships.

▍The 2M Alliance will cancel several Nordic voyages in the next week or two

The shipping company will cancel multiple flights to Northern Europe during the Spring Festival next month. This is a blow to the troubled cargo owners because they have paid a huge price to secure space in the voyage.

2M alliance partners Maersk and MSC plan to cancel three public voyages from Asia to Northern Europe in the 5th-7th week. One of the ships will be allowed to be postponed until next week, and the existing reservations will be kept. Ocean Alliance member CMA CGM will also skip three loops in the same period.

MSC said, “Due to the slowdown in demand during the Spring Festival and the severe congestion in the entire supply chain, it is necessary to take measures to cancel sailing.”

Maersk advises its customers that in order to cope with severe port congestion and container restrictions, it is necessary to use suspension to improve the reliability of shipping schedules, so as to release these services to restore planned shipping schedule measures.

Suspended voyages: Maersk Herrera on the AE55/Griffin loop scheduled to depart from Shanghai on February 11; Maersk Enshi (AE6/Lion) scheduled to leave Busan on February 13; and departure from Ningbo on February 15 Estelle Maersk (AE7 / Condor).

note! During the Spring Festival, the shipping company will cancel several Nordic voyages, and the time for collecting empty containers in China will be extended, and bulk cargo ships will load container cargo

A shipping company source said that he believes that 2M is more about slowing down the overheated supply chain and alleviating the pressure of congestion in the Nordic containers and ports.

"I can only represent our ships. During the Spring Festival, they are all fully booked." The source said, "In addition, too much cargo has been dumped recently. This cannot be a problem of reduced demand, so I guess , They want to restore a certain timetable by cutting voyages."

Indeed, Simon Sundboell, the founder of the liner database eeSea, said that the reliability of this route is worse than what we have seen in a long time.

He added: "These suspensions are necessary and restoration measures need to be arranged. They are not meant to consume capacity."

At the same time, according to the latest investigation by Container xChange, the serious container shortage crisis is alleviating. Although the container availability index (CAx) in December hit a record low, Shanghai has improved significantly this month.

"In January, the availability of 40-foot-high cubic containers increased by 37.5%, while the standard 40-foot-cubic container even increased to 200%. CAx showed a positive trend for shippers and freight forwarders looking for containers in Shanghai. With the increase in container availability Significant increase and Shanghai is returning to normal levels.” said David Amezquita, head of data insights, adding that similar situations have occurred in other major hubs in China.

▍The empty container release time will be extended from 7 days to 10 days

It is reported that Hapag-Lloyd will take temporary measures in order to optimize the supply of containers and meet customer needs during the upcoming Spring Festival. From now on, the empty container release window in Mainland China will be extended from the current 7 days to 10 days.

The empty container pick-up time at all Chinese ports has been adjusted from 7 days before the estimated sailing date to 10 days, which will take effect from now until January 31, 2021.

From February 1, 2021, it will be further extended to 14 days before the estimated sailing schedule until further notice.

The specific box types at the following special locations will be kept for 10 days and are subject to change without notice.

Shenzhen: 20' Dry

Ningbo: 40' Dry, 40'HC

Shanghai: 40' Dry, 40'HC

▍More and more containerized goods are cancelled and switched to other types of ships

Chartering expert Ahlers said that the rebound in bulk cargo transportation will bring benefits to secondary ports and short sea shipping. The company said: "New opportunities for bulk carriers, multi-purpose ships and ro-ro ships are emerging."

According to reports, last week, freight forwarders increasingly wanted to use multi-purpose ships to avoid a series of delays and cost issues, which disrupted Asia-Europe container trade-in some cases, they gave up boxes, and I chose bulk groceries.

In addition, the de-containerization trend seems to be gaining momentum on intra-Asia routes. On some routes, bulk commodity shippers accustomed to the lowest freight rates suddenly face bills much higher than in previous years.

Ahlers said that in Southeast Asia, cargo that has been shipped in containers for decades is now being transferred to bulk carriers.

Chartering business manager Senthil Nayagam said: “Due to the shortage of containers and high freight rates, goods such as sawn wood and plywood are turning to bulk general cargo ships.”

He said, for example, the cost of exporting plywood from Malaysia to Colombo has increased from US$400/TEU to US$1,025. “Therefore traders hope to transport them in bulk in the next three to four months until the situation improves. "

Another example is the shipment of goods from China to Russia. Mr. Nayagam said that Ahlers' original plan to reach St. Petersburg or use maritime rail services had to be cancelled and switched to other ports and offshore services.

He added: “Freight forwarders are forced to find unconventional options, such as transporting goods to a triple container terminal, and then looking for different short-sea solutions, trying to use smaller coastal bulk cargo vessels to transport the goods to the final destination. Land."

For many industries, transportation costs are not the only consideration in determining mode switching.

Mr. Nayagam said: “Inventory costs, potential fines related to late delivery, and factories' urgent need for raw materials to keep them running are all factors. For example, summer fashion needs to be listed in stores in time.”

"We believe that the container market situation will return to normal again, but it is not yet certain when it will return to normal. At the same time, we will continue to see more and more'traditional container' cargo shifted to other modes of transportation, including bulk cargo."

January 26, 2021 / By TJ China Freight / Shipping

“When the pressure on the maritime supply chain can be eased, no one can say”

In the past two months, the cost of transporting goods from China to Europe has more than quadrupled, hitting a record high, due to the pandemic disrupting global trade and the shortage of empty containers.

Data from shippers and importers show that the freight for transporting a 40-foot container from Asia to Northern Europe has risen from approximately US$2,000 in November last year to more than US$9,000.

Lars Jensen, CEO of maritime consulting company SeaIntelligence, said that the reason for the increase in freight rates is the market's competition for limited resources-containers.

In the first half of 2020, due to a sudden slowdown in global trade due to the epidemic blockade, shipping companies have suspended large-scale shipping and thousands of empty containers are stranded in Europe and the United States. In the second half of the year, when Western countries' demand for Asian-made goods rebounded, competition among shippers for available containers pushed up freight rates.

John Butler, Chairman of the World Shipping Council, said, "The freight volume has dropped from a sharp decline to soaring to the highest level in history, and the effective handling capacity of the terminal has exceeded the upper limit."

He added that the congestion in the port has caused freight rates to rise, and shipping companies charge additional fees to compensate for the longer waiting time.

"When the pressure on the maritime supply chain can be eased, no one can say"

British freight forwarding company Edge Worldwide CEO Philip Edge said that some shipping companies charge US$12,000 per container, much higher than the US$2,000 in October last year.

The British Household Electrical Appliance Manufacturers Association stated in a statement, “According to member companies’ disclosures, shipping costs have increased by more than 300% since 2020. Especially for some commodities, the increase in shipping costs has exceeded the net increase Profit. Therefore, these costs will have to be passed on to the end user."

The owner of a leisure goods importer in Manchester said that the shortage of containers is having a “huge impact” on his business, and some orders placed in November are still waiting to be shipped. "The question is, is it to pay $12,000 now and pass the cost on to the customer, or to wait at the risk of exhausting inventory?"

Economists say that such interruptions and delays are beginning to affect global supply chains. Neil Shearing, chief economist at Capital Economics, said that "transportation pressure is accumulating and may increase further."

A recent survey by IHS Markit found that in December last year, the delivery time of manufacturing suppliers in the Eurozone reached the worst level since the peak of the pandemic lockdown in April. Shipping delays and general commodity shortages were "widely mentioned" by suppliers. .

The companies surveyed stated that they are consuming inventory of raw materials and semi-finished products, resulting in a decline in inventory.

Bert Colijn, senior economist at ING, said that "supply shortages and rising freight rates may slightly curb trade growth."

On the occasion of the Chinese New Year in February, the Asian manufacturing industry slowed down. Shipping companies hope to use this time to solve the problem of increasing backlog orders, which will temporarily cool freight rates.

However, BIMCO chief shipping analyst Peter Sand said that the shortage of containers may continue for a long time in 2021. Although the shipping company has ordered new containers, in his opinion, such a move is "too small and too late."

Lars Jensen also believes that although freight rates may drop slightly, "there are still a lot of goods waiting to be transported."

John Butler pointed out that only when epidemic-related restrictions are reduced and people have more diverse service choices, the pressure on the maritime supply chain can be alleviated, but no one can say when it can be improved.

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