China Export Container Freight Index released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange shows that from March 11 to 18, the comprehensive China Export Container Freight Index fell from 3366.01 to 3301.10 points, a drop of 1.9%, of which European route freight index was 2568.88 points, a drop of 1.9% year-on-year; the US-Western route freight index was 2470.76 points, a drop of 3.8% year-on-year.
Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange shows that from March 11 to 18, the Shanghai Export Container Comprehensive Freight Index was 4540.31 points, down 84.75 points year-on-year. In the past month, the freight rate of Shanghai Port exported to the European basic port market (sea and sea freight surcharge) fell from US$7,677/TEU to US$7,019/TEU, a drop of more than 8% ; as of March 21, the container settlement freight index of Shanghai Port exported to the European basic port was 8,639.05 points, a year-on-year decrease of 6.7%; the container settlement freight index of Shanghai Port exported to the US West Basic Port remains at 5,421.77 points, the same as the previous period.
causes the decline in freight rates in Europe and the United States. Under the COVID-19 pandemic, shipping companies have adjusted their transportation plans many times. The recent epidemic in Shenzhen caused this manufacturing and export center city to press the pause button. The city's communities were closed for management, and all enterprises worked from home and suspended production and operation activities. Warehouses suspended their cargo reception, yards closed, and trailers were blocked. Although Shenzhen was unblocked last Friday and the port terminal has resumed normal work, the epidemic lockdown has led to a lot of production delays and order cancellations. Maersk said that although Shenzhen’s terminals are still in operation, the company has formulated a relative emergency plan. If Shenzhen continues to implement epidemic prevention restrictions, Maersk may allow ships to change their courses.
The impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is also obvious, with shipping companies suspending all related shipping operations involving the two countries. After the announcement on February 28, ONE Shipping Company reissues the notice on March 11: "Due to the continued hostilities between the two countries and the suspension of branch services by market suppliers, our business in Odessa, Ukraine, St. Petersburg and Novorossiysk, Russia remained interrupted."
As a result, the decline in freight rates of Asia-Europe routes is the fact that the shipping companies deployed far greater than the market import and export shipping demand, which has led to a supply and demand imbalance in the shipping market. The shipping company had no choice but to adjust the freight rate as much as possible to collect goods as possible to reduce shipping costs. In addition to lowering freight rates, shipping companies also plan to temporarily cope with the sluggish period of shipping market demand by canceling flights.
2M operators Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) recently announced three invalid voyages in April, which Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) attributed to the ongoing challenging market situation. Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) plans to cancel the following voyages in weeks 14, 15 and 16, but the company has arranged contingency plans for other services, and customers can choose corresponding bookings based on their needs.
Although the freight rates of Asia-Europe routes have been lowered, it is a foregone conclusion that shipping companies need to increase their fuel surcharges to cope with the rise in transportation costs. Earlier, UPS Joint Parcels, FedEx FedEx and TNT International Express have raised fuel surcharges to 36% and 30.5%. Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) also issued a notice on March 14: " Starting from April 15, 2022, before the situation stabilizes, MSC will recalculate all spot and quarterly contracts in Asian transactions that are charged for two weeks rather than monthly fees until further notice. "
Koryo Shipping has also previously notified that the adjusted low-sulfur fuel surcharge (LESS) will be implemented in the second quarter from April 1, and the surcharges in the second quarter have been increased year-on-year compared with the first quarter. According to relevant reports, from April 1, most sea carriers in Nordic Europe will increase fuel surcharge by 25% to their route transportation costs. The increase in the fuel surcharge of may cause changes in shipping prices. This also reminds cross-border e-commerce sellers who have recently exported goods to European and American countries to make shipment plans as soon as possible.
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