Freight rates on China US routes soared and containers piled up seriously

Time:2021-09-02 Publisher:Kevin Num:4272

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Recently, the supply chain in the shipping market is very chaotic, resulting in a sharp rise in freight rates on all routes. The most serious one is the freight of China US routes.


According to the data of the latest international Baltic Sea comprehensive freight index, the freight of Sino US routes has exceeded US $20000. The freight from China to Europe also reached nearly 15000 US dollars.


What is amazing is that last year, the freight of Sino US routes was less than $4000, and this number has increased fivefold in just one year.


Some shippers said that the total value of their exported goods was only 400000, and now the freight has reached 200000, almost half of the total value. This is very unfriendly for some goods with low profits.


Now the freight of some routes has exceeded the freight of air transportation, and some are even higher than the value of goods. 


Even the person in charge of the shipping company said that this is a rare phenomenon, which has never happened before.


Why is the freight between China and the United States so expensive now? This must be inextricably linked to the epidemic.


Affected by the epidemic, many routes had to be shut down. At the same time, the decline in domestic productivity has forced many countries to import materials from abroad.


As the first country to successfully fight the epidemic, China's productivity has almost recovered. 


Therefore, many countries buy materials from China, which brings reasonable reasons for shipping companies to increase freight.


Shipping companies will invest their capacity in high profit routes, and Sino US routes are routes with high profit performance. This is one of the reasons why the freight of this route rises so fast.


Another reason is the United States itself. The large-scale issuance of US dollars by the government has sharply increased the purchase demand in the American market.


Just in order to prepare Christmas goods in the second half of the year, a large number of American orders poured into China. This also has a boosting effect on the rise of freight.


Where's the container?


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Now, as a large number of ships flock to American ports, waiting ships are everywhere at the anchorage and near the port.


Many containers are stranded at the port and left unattended, which makes it impossible for the containers to return to China in time.


Insiders said that generally, the operation cycle of containers is 2 months, and now this time has been extended to more than 3 months. This has also led to an increase in container rental fees.


In this case, the utilization rate of containers is very low, and the increase of freight is inevitable.


According to the analysis of professionals, the shortage of containers and the soaring shipping costs may not be solved until the epidemic is better controlled.