It is hard to find a shipping container, and the price has soared 3 times

Due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the decline in international logistics capacity has led to a sharp increase in container ship freight rates. The freight rate of the US West route has increased by nearly three times compared with the beginning of the year. Under the background of tight capacity, the industry frequently produces container dumping.

Shipping prices soared nearly 3 times

Wu Haiquan’s enterprise is mainly engaged in the production and sales of smart earphones, smart audio and other products. More than 95% of the products are for export, and shipping accounts for more than 90% of the product transportation methods. He told reporters that since May this year, shipping prices have been rising, and even the phenomenon of "difficult to find one container" frequently appeared on many routes, which has put a lot of pressure on the logistics costs of enterprises.

Among the international shipping routes, the China-U.S. routes had the largest increase. As of October 9, the freight rates of Shanghai’s exports to the West and East U.S. basic ports were US$3,848 and US$4,622 per container, respectively. It is a new high since its release in 2009, and the price per container has risen nearly three times compared with the price of US$1,361 per container at the beginning of March. A person in charge of a logistics company told reporters that in addition to skyrocketing shipping prices and difficulty in ordering containers, shipping companies have limited space during peak freight seasons, and popular routes are also prone to bursting of containers.

Zhang Peipei, general manager of Shenzhen Didadi Logistics Technology Co., Ltd.: For shipping companies, the spaces are all pre-sold, and more spaces may be pre-sold than can be loaded. Because the shipping company also has to avoid some temporary cancellation of space, so if the booking and actual loading are not balanced, they will choose to drop some spaces.

The China Export Container Comprehensive Freight Index released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange shows that since May, the freight index has continued to rise. As of October 9, the Shanghai Comprehensive Export Container Freight Index, which reflects the spot market, has recorded 1438.22 points. Reached the highest level since September 2012.

A relevant person in charge of a container manufacturing company told reporters that the tight shipping capacity is not only reflected in freight rates, but also in matching containers. Judging from their company’s container sales, the entire month-on-month growth rate was very fast in July and August. Production has been scheduled to the end of the year.

The recovery of foreign trade drives exports

Lack of capacity pushes up shipping prices

The outbreak of the overseas epidemic in the second quarter led to production stagnation, which caused China's share of global exports to increase. The rapid increase in shipping prices on US routes was mainly due to the gap in shipping supply and demand. The increase in shipping prices also allowed major shipping companies to earn a lot in the consolidation sector. Full of.

According to industry insiders, due to the impact of the epidemic this year, most shipping companies had previously had pessimistic expectations about the international shipping situation, and therefore reduced their shipping capacity. With the domestic epidemic under control, my country’s exports showed strong resilience. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, my country Exports started in April and have been increasing for six consecutive months. The cumulative increase of 1.8% in the first three quarters exceeded market expectations. The total export value in September was 166.197 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%. The current high freight rates and difficulty in booking space are mainly due to the difficulty of the shipping company's capacity to meet the sudden increase in shipping demand.

Lin Qingwen, managing director of Shenzhen Yantian International Container Terminal Co., Ltd.: After the epidemic was brought under control, the resumption of work and production has also driven the growth of foreign trade. There are two main reasons: first, many foreign trade orders are replenishing orders; second, cross-border e-commerce belt With the introduction of new cargo, the throughput of Yantian International reached 1.42 million TEUs last month. This figure should be the current highest record for a single terminal in the world.

Zhang Kuo, general manager of Alibaba International Station, told reporters that because the epidemic has not been fully controlled abroad, these countries lag behind China in resuming work and production. After a large amount of Chinese goods are exported to the local area, it takes a long time to unload the ship. Staying at the port has led to imbalances and blockages in the entire import and export speed, and even led to insufficient capacity in the shipping market.

According to industry insiders, even though China has fully resumed work and production, and European and American countries have restarted economic activities, the epidemic has dealt a heavy blow to container shipping companies. It will take time to restore normal transportation conditions in the past, plus the United States The peak consumption season is approaching. At present, it is still a high probability event for shipping prices to maintain a high level in the next period of time.

The rise in shipping prices and the increase in freight volume have made the shipping companies of major shipping companies earn a lot of money. Data shows that in the second quarter of this year, COSCO Shipping Holdings, China Merchants Shipping, COSCO Marine Energy, China Merchants Nanyou, COSCO Shipping The year-on-year growth rate of the net profit of the company was 53.79%, 520.93%, 5481.39%, 159.56% and 66.51%.

Cross-border e-commerce enters peak seasons

Plan to deal with maritime price increases

Shipping is an important channel for cross-border e-commerce shipments. Now the U.S. stocking season has arrived, and foreign users have begun to purchase electronic consumer goods and supplies such as Thanksgiving and Christmas in advance. Then in the current situation of unstable shipping logistics, cross-border e-commerce What preparations have commercial enterprises made?

Yuan Hui, chairman of Shenzhen Haiboo Technology Co., Ltd., has been engaged in the cross-border e-commerce industry for many years. He told reporters that with the upcoming festivals such as Halloween in Europe and America, the cross-border e-commerce industry has entered the peak season of the industry.

The cross-border e-commerce import and export trade volume has not fallen but has increased, which has played a positive role in responding to the impact of the epidemic and has become an important force in stabilizing foreign trade. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in the first three quarters, my country imported and exported 187.39 billion yuan through the customs cross-border e-commerce management platform, a year-on-year increase of 52.8%. As an important way for cross-border e-commerce companies to ship goods, price fluctuations also affect companies. heart of.

Zhang Kuo, general manager of Alibaba International Station: Now we have also developed many new products with many shipping companies, including Yantian Port, such as the China-US Clippers. It turned out that due to a large number of aircraft outages, we can now travel from China to the United States within 12 days through the Clippers. The 12-day period is actually very useful for many overseas small and medium-sized enterprises, and the price is only one-third of air freight. One or so.

A person in charge of an enterprise told reporters that considering the instability of shipping logistics in the peak season of this year, he tried his best to avoid betting on a logistics company for all cargo transportation, and to prepare sea, land, and air backup plans at any time.