THE Alliance at Halifax Port has continued to jump ports on the EC5 route for 8 weeks, and no port calls will be scheduled before September; the Wall Street Journal reported that Brian, chief growth officer of Seko Logistics, a freight forwarding company headquartered in Itasca,

Major ports around the world have become clogged!

Los Angeles and Long Beach congestion is back;

Vancouver and Toronto have joined the ranks of congested ports;

Halifax Port THE Alliance has continued to jump ports on the EC5 route for 8 weeks, and no port calls will be scheduled before September;

Antwerp Port (Europe's No. The second largest port), following , Rotterdam, and Hamburg, has also begun to become congested. At this point, all three major container ports in Europe have fallen!

Asia, 50,000 containers crowded the congested port;

Singapore and Colombo continued congestion;

Chittagong shipping company stopped accepting new bookings;

Durban and Richards Bay ports were forced to suspend due to riots;

Haiti Port-au-Prince was suddenly closed due to the president's assassination...

According to Lars Jensen, founder of container consulting firm Vespucci Mitime, prediction: Due to serious port congestion, about 10% of the world's shipping capacity is consumed waiting for berthing.

▲Congested ports (marked in red) are all over the world!

The latest global port congestion situation released by maritime data service provider eeSea shows: Recently, the proportion of berthing ships waiting to berth at some major container ports around the world has hit a new high! Take Hong Kong as an example, where the proportion of container ships waiting to berth is as high as 67%. Oakland , Savannah , Seattle, and Vancouver also exceeded 65%!

▲ The proportion of ships waiting to berth at major ports around the world

" The Wall Street Journal " reported that Brian Bourke, chief growth officer of Seko Logistics, a freight forwarding company headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, said, "Global trade is now like the most Hot restaurant. If you want to book a cabin, you need to plan two months in advance. Everyone is trying to grab the cabin they can, but it is difficult to get a cabin.

Backlogs and delays will only worsen

The pressure on container transportation is still severe.

In the face of congestion, some shipping companies and shipping alliances have introduced measures to jump to ports or suspend sailings. Some shipping companies have directly stopped accepting new bookings. However, many shipping companies, including Mason and Zim, have Port congestion charges have begun to be introduced, and the extent of the increase is jaw-dropping!

Among them, Matson Shipping announced last week that it will increase the port congestion fee of US$2,000 per container for ports in the West US starting from August 5. This is the third time that the port congestion fee has been increased since June 10. The three ports After congestion charges are added up, the price for a 45-foot container is as high as $5,697! !

According to Bloomberg , although soaring freight rates have brought huge profits to container shipping companies such as Maersk Group and COSCO Shipping Holdings , importers are also facing high costs that are more difficult to digest. Some companies have raised retail prices, exacerbating concerns about inflationary pressures by central banks around the world, while supply bottlenecks caused by the epidemic are also hampering economic activity.

Supply chain experts say rising ocean freight prices have left many shippers, especially those with relatively low-value goods, facing a choice: either pay high prices and try to pass the costs on to customers, or withdraw from overseas markets.

Zhu Guojin, a consultant at logistics company Jizhi Supply Chain Service Yiwu Co., said last month that most of the company’s customers, including suppliers to Amazon.com and some U.S. importers, are paying premiums and their demand for goods is very high. urgent. Zhu said that many customers postponed shipments last year in the hope that shipping costs would come down; but today, unlike in the past, most people no longer seem to value shipping costs.

Damas predicts that pressure on container shipping will "remain severe" before the Lunar New Year in early 2022. Chinese factories typically shut down during the Lunar New Year holiday.He said, "There is no end in sight; in the current peak season, the situation is unlikely to improve. The backlog and delays will only worsen."

How to predict the freight rate trend of each route in the second half of the year?

Recently, Shanghai Shipping Exchange released the "2021 (Mid-Year) Water Transport Situation Report - Container Market" report. Let’s look forward to it with the editor!

The international market is expected to show the following characteristics in the second half of the year:

1. The economic rebound has stimulated an increase in transportation demand. According to Clarkson's prediction, global container transportation demand will increase by 6.1% year-on-year in 2021.

2. The scale of transportation capacity continues to increase.

3. Against the backdrop of continuing to be impacted by the epidemic in 2021, the operating efficiency of the global container shipping market will be significantly reduced.

4. Industry concentration is generally stable.

The alliance's business model has prevented the industry from competing for market share through fierce price competition and maintained market stability during the epidemic.

China market outlook for the second half of the year:

1. Transportation demand is expected to continue to improve.

2. Freight price fluctuations may increase. The epidemic continues to have an impact on the container shipping market. The supply chain system is disrupted, port operating efficiency is significantly reduced, and the supply of transportation capacity is tense.

North American route

In the second half of the year, if the epidemic situation in the United States gradually stabilizes, China's exports to the United States are expected to remain stable, but it will be difficult to continue to grow significantly.

The supply and demand relationship of North American route capacity will return to balance, and market freight rates are expected to return to historical highs. normal level.

European routes

In terms of transportation capacity, the overall market capacity is currently at a high level. During the epidemic, transportation capacity growth was relatively slow. However, the new transportation capacity is mainly large ships and will be mainly invested in trunk routes.

Partially alleviate the tight capacity situation. In the longer term, when the container shipping market recovers from the impact of the epidemic, the market will return to a balance between supply and demand.

North-South route

However, because most of the resource exporting countries are developing countries with weak public health systems and lack of vaccines to control the epidemic, Brazil, Russia and other countries are particularly affected by the epidemic, and the overall economy has been severely impacted.

The north-south route market is supported by transportation demand in the short term, but if the epidemic in the relevant countries is not controlled effectively, it will put pressure on the market trend in the long term.

Intra-Asian routes

As Asian countries are mainly developing countries with weak health and medical systems, the epidemic has hindered trade, investment and the flow of people. Whether the epidemic can be effectively controlled will be the primary factor in determining whether the Asian economy can stabilize and rebound in the future. .

route capacity supply is slightly tight, but the epidemic may cause greater uncertainty in future transportation demand, and market freight rates may become more volatile.

Please forward it to make it known and remind your foreign trade friends~