The peak season of the fourth quarter of the container shipping industry is approaching. International shipping companies plan to impose a "General Rate Surcharge" (GRI) on routes from Asia to North America on August 15 and September 1. Each FEU (40-foot standard container) ) will increase by US$1,000 to US$2,000. If both price increases are successful, it will be the 17th consecutive increase in container shipping surcharges.
The international container shipping market has been witnessing a battle between the long and short sides recently. According to multiple sources, major international shipping companies have separately announced that in the next month, GRI prices for the North American line will increase twice in a row. Taiwan's Evergreen and Yang Ming are also among the price increases. According to the spot price, the average increase in single GRI shipping cost of is more than 10% to 20%.
According to the latest Shanghai Shipping Exchange freight index (SCFI) quotation last week, spot prices have fallen for eight consecutive weeks, with the index closing at 3,739.72 points, hitting a new low since mid-June last year. Among them, the freight price per FEU of Far East to the US West is US$6,499, and the freight price per FEU to the US East is US$9,330.
The shipping companies that announced plans to increase GRI this time include Evergreen and Yang Ming, as well as COSCO (COSCO), Hapag Lloyd (Hapag Lloyd), Hanxin Shipping (HMM), and Ocean Network Express (ONE) and ZIM (ZIM) .
According to the price increase report, Evergreen and Yang Ming have slightly different GRI price increase standards this time. Evergreen sets the price increase standard based on the containers carried. Among them, some special containers have higher GRI, while Yang Ming sets the price increase standard based on the container destination. Set the price increase amount.
Industry insiders analyze that GRI continues to rise despite falling spot freight rates, mainly due to the increasingly serious logistics congestion at ports on the east and west coasts of the United States. Due to the unresolved port congestion problem in Europe and the United States, the supply chain is still very fragile, and we may still have to endure high freight rates this year.
Industry insiders pointed out that spot prices have fallen for eight consecutive years, but GRI will rise for 17 consecutive years, showing the fragility of the supply chain. Whether it is shipping, land transportation and other links, there are still many hidden worries. The demand side in North America is unstable. However, the freight system is chaotic, causing freight rates to fluctuate and the overall freight rate to remain high.
The Drewry World Containerized Index (WCI) has fallen for 22 consecutive weeks, which is interpreted as a signal of improvement in the supply chain. However, some senior shipping experts "have seen the opposite situation." They pointed out that the port congestion caused by supply chain interruption has never improved and will become more serious in the short term.
