As domestic epidemic prevention and control becomes increasingly normalized, foreign trade is ushering in a recovery. In the first half of the year, the total foreign trade import and export value of Qingdao, Shandong Province was 397.52 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 39.6%. While foreign trade is experiencing growth, containers on ocean routes have become “hard to find” and shipping prices have risen sharply, which has had a considerable impact on production and logistics companies.
Qingdao, Shandong: “One box is hard to find” for shipping and companies face logistics difficulties
Pingdu City, Qingdao City, Shandong Province is the domestic false eyelash production base, accounting for 70% of the world’s false eyelash output, with more than 5,000 manufacturing companies. Leng Sumei is the person in charge of a local false eyelash manufacturer in Qingdao. Recently, she has been worrying about the logistics of export orders. Although orders from Europe and the United States continue, companies have to suspend taking orders in the face of tight shipping space and high freight rates.
Leng Sumei, the person in charge of a false eyelash manufacturer in Qingdao, Shandong Province: When confirming the order, a sea shipping price has been quoted to the customer, and the goods will be ready. After that, the price rose, and it rose a lot, and it fell into a very passive state.
The rising prices have made it difficult for foreign trade companies to bear, and freight forwarding companies are also busy. Dong Chengwen, a staff member of an international freight forwarding company, told reporters that since April this year, container shipping capacity on international routes has been in short supply, and freight rates have increased approximately five times compared with the same period in 2019.
Dong Chengwen, manager of the commercial department of an international freight forwarding company: Before the epidemic, the freight rate for ultra-high containers on the Qingdao-U.S. line was basically around US$3,000. , now after the epidemic, the basic market price is around US$16,000. Especially for European and American routes, if you want to book cargo space, you basically need to book it about a month in advance.
Customs statistics show: China’s total import and export value of goods trade exceeded 18.07 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, and China’s total foreign trade import and export volume in June increased by 22% year-on-year. . High logistics demand and insufficient supply of transportation capacity have led to rising freight rates. In addition, major destination ports such as North America and Europe have been hit hard by the epidemic, and their turnover efficiency has declined, which has also exacerbated the difficulty of finding a container in domestic shipping.
Zeng Yitang, chief representative of the North China region of an international freight forwarding company: I tracked a ship to the western United States and it took 10 to 14 days to berth. This also greatly reduced the number of ships and air traffic. The return capacity of the container.
Qingdao, Shandong: Railway consolidation has become a new option, and the tight supply and demand of shipping may continue
On the one hand, there are strong orders and production capacity of enterprises, and on the other hand, there is a shortage and expensive shipping space. Transnational logistics has become a resistance to the operation and development of foreign trade enterprises. Faced with this situation, railway container transportation with high turnover efficiency and stable freight rates is welcomed by foreign trade enterprises.
At the Qingdao Multimodal Transport Center in the SCO Demonstration Zone, freight vehicles are busy coming in and out. Since global shipping capacity became tight in the second half of last year, railway container transportation has become the first choice for many cargo owners.
Lu Shusheng, marketing manager of the domestic transportation department of a logistics company in Qingdao, Shandong: On the basis of maintaining the original shipping volume, customers have mainly increased the shipment of export goods. There are industrial products and lifestyle products from around Shandong Province, many of which are shipped to European countries, including Italy and Germany.
Before the epidemic, the price advantage of railway container transportation was not obvious compared to sea transportation. However, as shipping prices are high and shipping space is “hard to find”, China-Europe trains, which take more than ten days to Central Asia and more than 20 days to Europe, have become a hot commodity in the eyes of cargo owners.
In order to alleviate the shortage of container transportation capacity, the Ministry of Transport recently stated that it will work with the Ministry of Commerce and other departments to increase the supply of transportation capacity and improve the turnover efficiency of containers. However, it will take at least a year and a half for the new shipping capacity to be put into use. The phenomenon of tight shipping capacity and high freight prices is difficult to change in a short time. Manufacturing companies should lower their expectations for foreign trade orders and explore more potential of the domestic consumer market. .
China Ocean Shipping University EnterpriseWang Peng, deputy dean of the School of Management: The freight price is greater than the value of the product itself, which involves a huge risk of abandonment. We should adjust our production appropriately based on the efficiency of logistics. </p
