In the post epidemic era, the hot market has caused the shortage of containers and the crazy increase of freight prices“ The word "starting price on the ground" is enough to describe the current global maritime market.

Moreover, from July 1, more and more shipping companies will join this "queue" of price increases: some companies have made great efforts to "triple increase" within half a month, and some have even set a single highest increase in shipping history

Unprecedented rise in sea freight, rising trend or continuation until the Spring Festival

On June 18, the latest index of export container freight rate released by Shanghai Shipping Exchange reached a new record high. The Shanghai export container index (SCFI) was 3748.36, a record high, up 358% from 818 last year's lowest point. The index reflects the change direction and degree of the settlement freight rate in the spot shipping market, which means that the shipping price has increased several times year on year.

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As of June 22, although the Baltic dry bulk index (BDI) fell to 3119, on June 18, BDI rose 7 days to 3267 points, breaking the high since early June 2010, a new high in 11 years.

The shipping pressure behind the numbers is obvious. BDI is known as the "barometer" of the world economy, which is calculated by the spot freight weighted calculation of several main bulk carriers. It can be seen that the global shipping costs are constantly "rocketing" to the top.

Since May, many shipping companies, such as Herbert, MSC, COSCO, Matson and Shenyuan steamers, have announced several rounds of notice of cost increase. Shipping costs have risen several times on average compared to a year ago, and even more, FAK rates from Asia to northern Europe are close to $400000 per 40 ft 20000 - a 1000 per cent increase compared to the spot rate a year ago, which is 10 times higher than the previous year.

"The current freight rate is the highest in history, but the current service is not very good." A foreign trade forwarder complained in an interview with times finance and economics that shipping prices soared because the capacity of the goods could not meet the demand for goods operation, but the rate of flight schedule was a record low.

Cost analysis expert Wang Wei, who has been engaged in the shipping industry for nearly 15 years, said it was the fastest wave of price rise since the global financial tsunami in 2008. It is estimated that it will continue to rise in the second half of this year, and the increase will continue until the Spring Festival next year“ August is the peak season for European and American foreign trade companies to prepare for Christmas day. Due to the long holiday time of Chinese Spring Festival, overseas orders will be shipped before the Spring Festival. "

Ministry of transportation response: how to deal with the difficult demand of class I in the shipping market and the continuous increase of freight prices?

At 10:00 a.m. on June 24, at a press conference held by the State Council press office, the Ministry of transport of China paid special attention to "how to deal with the difficulty of first class in shipping market and the continuous increase of freight prices?" And other questions have been answered one by one!

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CCTV reporter: at present, the international container liner market is difficult to find one cabin, one container, and the freight rate continues to rise. What measures does the Ministry of transport take to deal with this?

Zhaochongjiu, Deputy Minister of transportation: at present, there are some emergencies affecting the capacity, such as the grounding accident of Suez Canal in March this year. The second is the impact of the epidemic, one is the reduction of port operation efficiency, the other is the shift of marine crew. The transportation efficiency of the whole shipping market is reduced. The contradiction between supply and demand has led to the rise of price, so it is difficult to find the first cabin now, and the price is rising.

After analyzing the reasons for the rise, we will do some targeted work. Overall, the rise is determined by the contradiction between supply and demand. With the improvement of the epidemic situation and the resumption of work and production in various countries, the situation will gradually return to normal. The Ministry of transport has made a contribution to the stability of the international supply chain. During this period, we have done a lot of work.

First, in the aspect of external defense input, it has guided local ports and transportation departments to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control and ensure smooth traffic, such as vaccination of relevant vaccines, personal protection, crew shift change, port loading and unloading operations, and coordination of blocking points in logistics.

Second, help enterprises solve specific difficulties and ensure the transportation of key customers and key materials. For example, the transportation of people's livelihood materials and epidemic prevention materials should be guaranteed.

Third, actively coordinate with international liner companies to increase the transport capacity of China's export routes and the supply of containers. On the Chinese mainland's main routes, the number of shipping lines invested by major liner companies increased significantly in 1-5 months of this year, of which the capacity of North American routes reached 5 million 510 thousand TEUs, an increase of 65% over 2020, an increase of 27% over 2019. The capacity of European routes has also increased by 38% over 2020 and nearly 10% over 2019.

As we all know, empty containers are also very tight recently because of the difficulty in turnover. Our container making enterprises are stepping up production. The current monthly capacity has been increased to 500000 standard containers, and by may, the shortage of empty containers in major ports in China has been reduced to 1.3%, which has gradually eased. This is basically the case.

Next, we will continue to implement relevant measures of stabilizing foreign trade with the Ministry of Commerce and other departments, and guide international liner companies to continuously increase the capacity of Chinese mainland export routes, while improving the efficiency of container turnover, and guide local transport departments to ensure the stability and smoothness of international logistics supply chain while doing well in epidemic prevention and control. In terms of price, we also cooperate with the market supervision department to strengthen the charge supervision of maritime ports, and investigate and deal with illegal charges in accordance with the law.

Are you satisfied with the reply from the Ministry of transportation?

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Here also remind, the recent shipping plan of the cargo forwarder friends, and the shipping company, customers, etc. do a good communication, must decide to arrange booking in advance, in order to avoid affecting the shipment! Forward to know~