Barcelona, December 4, 2020.- Despite the global economic recession, maritime traffic has started to increase its prices, at least between Asia and Europe. This has been reported by the publication Splas247.com: As analysts have been predicting, spot rates on the Asia-Europe container tradelane shot up today, playing belated catch-up with the booming transpacific.
Tight capacity and limited equipment availability amid a spike in consumer demand saw rates published on the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) leap $447 per teu to $2,091, up 27% in the space of a week. Asia – Mediterranean rates also shot up, climbing by $421 or 23% this week to $2,219 per teu.
Buoyant weekly figures were also published for most tradelanes today – Asia to West Africa rallying by $300 to $4,459 per teu, while trips from Asia to the east coast of Latin America shot up by $402 to hit $4,805 per teu.
Transpacific rates, meanwhile, were flat for the week, but still remain at record highs however.
Recent data published by consultancy Sea-Intelligence shows liners are on track to increase capacity year-on-year on the transpacific by 27.3% in December. On Asia-Europe however, the carriers’ deployment plans indicate a capacity growth of 6.7% year-on-year. Plenty of ships have been rerouted to the far more profitable transpacific in recent months.
“As carriers prioritise containers on the transpacific, some are shifting ex-Asia capacity from Europe to the US,” commented Eytan Buchman from online box booking platform Freightos in a note to clients earlier this week.
“The equipment shortage and port congestion in the US and UK is leading to pain for shippers, with reports of bookings being rejected for lack of empties, containers being offloaded at alternative ports, and shippers delaying bookings until things quiet down,” Buchman added.
The record rates environment in recent months has prompted many governments to intervene. Splashreported this week on the Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC) expanded probe into liner activity, while India, China and South Korea are also advising liners to rein in their sky high charges.
“I am sure that we will hear more noise now from the European Shippers’ Council, and potentially investigations in the EU similar to what the FMC, China and Korea have been doing,” commented Andy Lane, a container expert at CTI Consultancy in Singapore.
- AndSoft presents at SIL 2022 solutions for special transport ADR and oversized cargo
- Gartner: 7 top trends in cybersecurity for 2022
- The German Shipbuilding demanding Berlin and other European governments reduce their dependence on China for all things maritime
- “Supply chain management will continue to face disruptions in 2022 and as executives continue to prioritize digital transformation”
- Looking for 500,000 truck drivers in Europe
- “Digital transformation is revolutionizing global shipping”
- Shenzhen’s lockdown will only make supply chain issues worse
- AI’s ability to streamline so many supply chain and logistics functions is already delivering a competitive advantage for cutting shipping times and costs
- “It could take five years for UK ports to get back to pre-pandemic freight levels”
- The Biden Administration points to maritime transport to contain inflation
- Hyperloop: The utopia of transporting goods at 1,000 km/h
- “Almost three-quarters of customers (72.5%) say poor deliveries mean they will stop recommending the retailer”
- AndSoft Stand F81 at SITL Paris logistics fair from April 5 to 8
- Success Story: Drones to distribute fresh food in Australia
- Macro Economic Analysis on the consequences of the Russian invasion in Ukraine
- Interesting analysis: Top 10 supply chain strategies and trends
- “Shippers have broadened their definition of carrier capacity management to include new and effective ways to lessen the carrier capacity crunch”
- IRU: “European road freight rates index up 1.1 points in Q4, hitting a new record”
- “Logistics companies must leverage technological tools and incorporate them as much as possible into their core systems”
- Fully Automated Warehouse
- “2022 will see manufacturers digitalise their logistics systems and streamline their supply chains to future-proof themselves against further disruptions”
- Pre-pandemic typically 2% of containership capacity was caught up in delays, a figure that shot up to 11% in 2021
- World’s First “Driver Out” Fully Autonomous Semi-Truck Operating on Open Public Roads
- AndSoft wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2022
- Logistics Manager: “11,000 HGV driver training places now available across England with new Government funding”
- Walmart’s Self-Driving Trucks Are Hitting the Road