Exporters race to find space on ships

Affected by the extended international shipping cycle on certain routes, manufacturers in Fujian province exported 526 million yuan worth of new containers from January to April, up 686 percent year-on-year, data from Xiamen Customs showed.

China's container throughput at its ports rose 9 percent year-on-year to 104.03 million twenty-foot equivalent units between January and April, according to data released by the Ministry of Transport in May.

Major players like France's CMA CGM Group, Germany's Hapag-Lloyd AG and Denmark's Maersk Line have all reported substantial rate increases in recent months, with some hikes reaching up to $2,000 and several routes experiencing over 50 percent increases. These adjustments span numerous routes connecting Asia with Europe, North America and South America.

For example, CMA CGM said that starting May 15, the rate for a TEU on the Asia to North Europe route would be adjusted to $2,700, and the rate for a 40-foot container (FEU) will increase to $5,000, which represent increases of $500 and $1,000, respectively, compared with rates implemented on May 1.

Maersk started to impose a peak season surcharge on routes from Asia to the west coast of South America, Central America and the Caribbean from June 1. The surcharge is $1,000 for a TEU and $2,000 for an FEU.

As various shipping companies announced price increases, including surcharges, the freight rates from Ningbo Port to some ports in Latin America have jumped from about $2,000 per FEU in the offseason to $9,000-$10,000 this month, said Pan Jiangbo, a business manager at Ningbo Qianheng International Logistics Co, another Ningbo-based freight forwarder.

Similarly, the basic freight rates to Europe in early June have risen by nearly $1,000 compared to May, reaching close to $6,000 per FEU, and may even rise, said Pang.

The continued hike in freight rates is being mainly driven by operational safety concerns in the Red Sea region, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (from July 26 to Aug 11) and a surge in demand for goods in many regions across the world. Freight rates are likely to rise in the short term, he added.

Yang Changyong, a researcher with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission, said the current scenario is expected to persist for another two or three months.

July and August mark the conventional peak shipping season, while August and September represent the busy season for global e-commerce businesses.

Anticipating uncertainties in trade policies due to the US general elections later this year, several US retailers and businesses have rushed to order products from Chinese exporters to replenish stocks, Yang said.

Generally, long-term contracts offer prices that are lower than spot market rates, but when the former are much lower than the latter, shipping companies prefer to fulfill spot contracts.

Consequently, the management and allocation of low-priced space are stringently controlled, said Lin Meng, director of the Modern Supply Chain Research Institute at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Overall, the freight forwarding sector is witnessing higher earnings compared to the offseason, though far from reaching the peak of 2021 when global supply chains were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and obstructions in the Suez Canal, Lin said.

Whether the rates will rise by Christmas season depends on global developments. Judging from the current circumstances, the situation of high freight costs will not last particularly long, she added.