According to recent data from S&P Global Platts, after the Spring Festival, the total shipping cost per FEU from Asia to the West United States is about US$12,000, and from Asia to the East United States is about US$13,000;

The "supply chain nightmare" plaguing the global shipping industry is likely to continue until 2022. Although freight rates have dropped significantly recently, the difficult-to-ease port congestion problem and strong market demand in the future will support freight rates to rise again.

According to recent data from Standard & Poor's Global Platts (S&P Global Platts), after the Spring Festival, the total shipping cost per FEU from Asia to the west of the United States is about 12,000 US dollars, and from Asia to the east of the United States is about 13,000 US dollars; North Asia The quoted price per FEU in the US West is the same at US$9,500. If other additional costs are added, it will increase by approximately US$2,000-3,000.

In addition, the total shipping cost per FEU from Southeast Asia to the East United States is approximately US$17,000-19,000, slightly lower than US$20,000 a week ago; the freight rate to the West US will be US$13,000-16,000, compared with US$1.5-1.7 the previous week. Ten thousand U.S. dollars. The freight rate per FEU on the Asia-Europe route is also currently reduced by about 15%.

Industry insiders believe that shipping surcharges soared before the Spring Festival. Although spot freight rates at major ports in China tended to decrease during the Spring Festival in February, considering the strong global order intake in March, freight rates should not fall back too much.

Just before the Spring Festival, 2M, the world's largest shipping alliance, announced that it would reduce sailings from Asia to North America in February.

Among them, Maersk Line of the 2M alliance said that its TP6/MSC Pearl service will be postponed by one week from the February 1 departure date, and the TP2/MSC Jaguar loop service will also be postponed by one week from its announced sailing date of February 14; mainly Considering that the Asia-North America route has been affected by the port congestion factor and the shipping schedule has been delayed, and it is expected that demand will slow down around the Spring Festival, it was decided to adjust the voyage.

Mediterranean Shipping will cancel four separate voyages from January 30 to February 14. The reason is that demand is expected to slow down around the Spring Festival. Generally speaking, demand will be weak within a week or two after the Spring Festival. Mediterranean Shipping Company said: "This change will help us match our capacity with the expected weak demand for container shipping services."

The industry believes that although Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company canceled sailing plans for different reasons, the purpose is the same. Container shipping companies choose to reduce sailings during the off-season. This is a short-term phenomenon. The port congestion situation has not improved, and it is meaningless to send more ships to the North American market.

Freight forwarding industry analysts said that due to the upcoming Spring Festival, cargo volume will decrease, and freight rates have been revised back recently, which is normal; even if goods are loaded from Asia, there are still long queues when ships arrive at ports in the West United States. , so the member companies of the 2M Alliance retain their strength and can seize the March shipment surge after the Asian factories start construction.

On the other hand, global port congestion and shipping delays are also worsening. According to the latest report released by the digital supply chain visualization platform project44, the average shipping delay from China to Europe rose to 6 days in December last year, after declining for several consecutive months.

According to data from project44, currently, the sailing time from Dalian Port in China to Antwerp Port in Europe has increased from 68 days in December last year to 88 days in January, while the same sailing time in January 2021 will be 65 days. The sailing time from Dalian Port to Felixstowe Port in the UK has also increased from 81 days in December last year to 85 days in January, while the sailing time in January 2020 was 65 days.

On the other hand, delays on routes from China to the West Coast have been gradually increasing since October last year. Delays at the Port of Oakland increased from about 5 days in December last year to more than 10 days in January, and delays in Los Angeles remained at about 6 days in both December last year and January this year.

According to data from maritime data provider Lloyd's Register, as of 8:00 GMT on January 25, there were 82 container ships waiting to be loaded on board near Shanghai Port and Ningbo Port; There are also 61 ships waiting near Yantian and Hong Kong in the south. On the other side of the Pacific, 68 ships were waiting to unload cargo outside the Port of Long Beach and Los Angeles. And in Europe, there are 19 ships near Rotterdam and Antwerp .

Concepcion Boo Arias, a spokesman for container shipping giant Maersk Line, previously said that the company deployed more ships and containers than before the epidemic, but still saw delays, resulting in mismatches in voyages and capacity.Delays at ports have a knock-on effect on shipping schedules, with a few days in one port potentially adding two weeks to a container ship's total sailing time. Josh Brazil, an analyst at

project44, said that it will take "several years for the shipping industry to return to the stable state of the supply chain before the epidemic" and that new ships under construction will not enter the market until 2024, which means "there is no quick solution."