Shipping Price Rises Fiercely: Shipping Companies Continue To Increase Surcharges, Small Shippers Have No Choice But To Abandon Orders In Peak Season

"It's really out of control now," said Zhou Ming, head of a foreign trade enterprise in Tianjin at the other end of the phone. In the face of strong overseas order demand, Zhou Minggang has just visited a circle of shipping companies in order to ensure the export capacity, but still can not get more shipping space, so he can only ask the freight forwarding company for help at a high price. In late June, the price of 40 foot containers from Tianjin to the US East will rise to 17000-18000 US dollars“ Some freight forwarders even quoted more than 20000 US dollars, "Zhou Ming sighed to reporters.

"Now the freight is more than 60% of the value of our goods. If we add 25% tariff, there will be almost no profit," says Zhou Ming. Companies with lower value in the market have already begun to face higher freight than the value of goods, so they can only abandon the contract.

What's worse, there are rumors in the market that shipping companies will have to add another round of surcharges from July 1. Before that, shipping companies have already increased two rounds of surcharges on June 1 and June 15, some of which have increased by nearly $5000 compared with May.

Stimulated by the strong freight rate rise, Hong Kong stock and A-share shipping stocks all rose on June 10. By the end of the day, COSCO's H-share rose by 11.63%, and the stock closed in A-share market with a limit.

Foreign shipping enterprises usually give priority to the allocation of shipping space to foreign enterprises

In an interview with the 21st century economic report on May 24, Zhou Ming said that at that time, the container price of 40teu from Tianjin to the eastern United States was 13000 US dollars in May. Before the epidemic, the freight rate of containers with the same specifications on the same route was less than 3000 US dollars.

I didn't expect that the freight rate became more crazy in June. According to Zhou Ming, due to the large increase of orders in North America, the company has just made a round trip to the shipping company, hoping to get more shipping space. After all, the price offered by the shipping company is slightly lower than that of the market. But the result was not so good. He only got one cabin in the end.

On the one hand, prices soared. In the first half of June, the cost of a 40teu container from Tianjin to Meidong was 14000-16000 US dollars, while in the second half of June, it rose to 17000-18000 US dollars.

On the other hand, the shipping company is short of shipping space. Due to the sharp increase in the market demand, shipping companies are also selecting customers to provide shipping space according to VIP level. Zhou Ming revealed that several foreign-funded shipping companies had told him that they could not help him. Even if they had long-term cooperation with Dafei and other companies, the allocation of shipping space was collected to the group level, and the Chinese branches were unable to choose customers. According to the staff of Dafei, the group issued a list of priority customers to the shipping company, which has multiple levels from vvvip to VIP. Usually at the top of the list are the enterprises of the country where the shipping companies are located and large multinational companies, such as Zhou Ming's Chinese enterprises, which are relatively low in ranking and can hardly be allocated space.

According to Zhou Ming, this kind of customer selection is prevalent in foreign shipping companies. For example, the company's long-term partner, one, is a Japanese shipowner. Limited shipping space is given priority to Japanese enterprises and other large multinational companies. Even if the company has cooperated for many years, it is difficult to obtain one and a half hold. Sometimes there is a shortage of shipping space and containers, and a large number of shipping companies' containers are overstocked in American and European ports.

Zhou Ming had no choice but to go to a Chinese shipping company. Although COSCO was willing to help, the space was not enough. In the end, Zhou Ming could only ask for help from the freight forwarding company and bravely undertake the market freight rate. According to Zhou Ming's calculation, the current freight rate is already 60% of the value of the goods. If we add the 25% tariff imposed by the US government, including other port-to-door expenses, there will be almost no profit. Unless the relevant costs are passed on to American consumers, it will undoubtedly make the retail price of the product continue to rise.

Abnormal market demand creates abnormal freight system- Visual China

Freight rates are expected to rise

On June 7, Ningbo Shipping Exchange announced that the ncfi of 5.29-6.4 closed at 3091.6, up 0.6% from last week.

According to Ningbo air exchange, the class space of European route is still very tight, and it is difficult to find one class for some voyages. The overall market booking price continued to rise slightly. The European freight index was 4715.9 points, up 2.1% from last week; The freight index of Mediterranean east route was 3609.3 points, up 1.2% from last week; The western Mediterranean freight index was 4603.5 points, up 1.2% from last week.

The demand for shipping in the North American route market remained strong, and the routes were basically full. The Middle East shipping space supply is relatively tight, with an index of 2867.6 points, up 0.2% from last week.

On the 4th, the Shanghai Shipping Exchange released a composite index of China's export container freight rates to 2373.77, up 77.41 from the previous week. The Shanghai Composite Index of export container freight (SCFI) was 3617.07, up 117.31 from last week.

Why is the recent rise in shipping prices so fierce? According to the analysis of Ningbo air exchange, Auckland port in the United States is facing severe congestion. With the arrival of the shipping season, the congestion of container ships berthing near the California coast is still in place, with Auckland surpassing Los Angeles / Long Beach as the center of congestion. The delay in California port has had a serious impact on the schedule of liner ships. Due to the inability of ships to return to Asia for loading, the port congestion is equivalent to the cancellation of voyages, and the effective capacity of trans Pacific routes is greatly reduced.

At the same time, the growth rate of container throughput of China's eight major hub ports slowed down. In late May, the container throughput of the eight hub ports increased by 4% year on year. Among them, foreign trade increased by 3.9%, and domestic trade increased by 4.2% year on year. In terms of ports, the growth rate of Tianjin port and Ningbo Zhoushan port is more than 20%, and that of Qingdao port is nearly 20%. The production of confirmed cases in Yantian port area of Shenzhen port has been temporarily affected, and the epidemic prevention and control has been comprehensively strengthened. The demand for foreign trade of the main coastal hub ports continued to be strong, and the shortage of export container space and empty containers rebounded.

CSCI pointed out that the SCFI index is up 285% year-on-year, and freight rates may continue to record high in the future. In the current supply chain extremely tight situation, freight rates may continue to maintain a high trend.

Maritime surcharges continue to increase

Abnormal market demand creates abnormal freight system.

To the annoyance of many freight forwarders and shippers, the shipping company has repeatedly increased various surcharges.

Herbert recently announced that starting from June 15, it will increase the comprehensive rate and surcharges (GRI) for eastbound routes from East Asia to the United States and Canada. For 20 foot containers, the charge is $2400 per case, and for 40 foot containers, the charge is $3000 per container.

This is the second time in recent days that Herbert Roth has announced an increase in surcharges. At the beginning of May this year, Herbert Roth announced that since June 1, it would raise the comprehensive rates and surcharges for the East bound routes from East Asia to the United States and Canada, with a charge of $960 per container for 20 foot containers and $1200 per container for 40 foot containers.

Gri (general rate increment) refers to the surcharge on the rise of comprehensive rate, which is generally used by South American routes and American routes. The cost is mainly due to the port, ship, fuel, cargo or other reasons, which makes the shipping company's transportation costs increase significantly, and the owners add surcharges to compensate for these increased expenses.

In addition, due to traffic congestion in German seaports, Herbert will also charge a congestion surcharge of 25 Euro per box for all inland transport to and from Bremen, Hamburg and Port William.

From June 1, Dafei will increase the GRI of routes from Asian ports to the United States and Canada, with a maximum increase of $1600 / box. MSc, the world's second largest shipping company, has also raised the GRI and fuel surcharge for Asia US routes since June 1, with the highest increase of $1266 per tank and the highest fuel surcharge of $412.

Wanhai also said it would raise freight rates for goods exported from China to other parts of Asia due to the recent increase in operating costs. 20 foot container, up by $300; 40 foot container, an increase of $600; The increase of high box is $600.

However, the freight rate has been so high that the high freight rate may become an unbearable burden for small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises. Zhou Ming told reporters that the company's commodity value is relatively high, for a large number of low value foreign trade goods, how to resist fierce freight? He heard that there were already small shippers who had no choice but to give up their orders, even though the annual peak season was coming soon. And the market is crazy, July 1, shipping prices will have a new round of surcharge.

Is freight a dilemma?

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