Recently, shipping companies have continued to cancel voyages from China to Northern Europe and the Western United States in order to slow down the decline in container spot freight rates. However, despite the sharp increase in the number of air flights, the downward trend in freight rates has not been curbed.
Freight prices fell for 20 consecutive weeks
The latest container freight index SCFI released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange reached 1579.21 points, a weekly drop of 118.44 points, and the decline increased from 4.56% last week to 6.98%.
The latest SCFI latest index:
The freight rate from Shanghai to Europe was US$1,763/TEU, a weekly decrease of US$339, or 16.13%;
Mediterranean line is 2222 US dollars/TEU, down 122 US dollars on the week, down 5.02%;
The US-Western freight rate was US$1,681/FEU, a weekly decrease of US$221, or 11.62%;
US$4890/FEU in the US East, a weekly drop of US$428, or 8.05%.
The freight rate of the South American line (Santos) was US$3,816/TEU, down 725 yuan per week, or 15.96%;
The Persian Gulf line freight rate is US$1,812/TEU, a weekly increase of US$85, or 4.96%;
The Southeast Asia line (Singapore freight rate) is US$355/TEU, up US$9 or 2.60% this week.
The latest Ningbo Export Container Freight Index (NCFI) released by the Ningbo Shipping Exchange closed at 1193.5 points, down 9.6% from last week. The freight index of all 21 routes fell.
The key route index conditions are as follows:
European and continental routes: The market booking demand has not improved, the remaining space on the routes is serious, and the spot market booking prices have dropped to varying degrees.
The European route freight index was 1105.7 points, down 16.8% from last week;
The freight index for the Didong route was 1282.3 points, down 6.0% from last week;
The freight index for the West-West route was 1517.9 points, down 7.1% from last week.
North American routes: Transportation demand continues to be weak, and market booking prices continue to fall. Among them, the freight rate of the US-Western route has been lower than the same period before the epidemic.
The U.S. East Route freight index was 1499.0 points, down 9.4% from last week;
The freight index for the US-West Route was 924.7 points, down 3.7% from last week.
Middle East route: Some of the previously suspended shipping capacity returned to the market, and booking prices in the spot market fell back this week. The Middle East route index was 1639.5 points, down 11.6% from last week.
In addition, the markets for the following routes are highly volatile:
South America West Route: The recovery of freight volume is less than expected, and the freight rate is difficult to maintain after the increase. The decline in market freight rate further expanded this week. The freight index for the South American West Route was 1030.7 points, down 16.4% from last week.
Drewry’s World Container Freight Index (WCI) fell 3% in the latest week, falling for 36 consecutive weeks. It fell 67% compared with the same period last year, and the decline narrowed.
All major routes continued to fall across the board. The freight rate of the Shanghai-Rotterdam Nordic route fell by 4%, while the freight rate of the Shanghai-New York East American route further fell by 6%.
In addition, many freight forwarders pointed out that in the spot market, one shipping company in the non-alliance and the alliance has each offered a freight rate of US$1,350 per large box (40-foot container) on the US-West route. It is estimated that most shipping companies will follow suit next week, and the freight rate will be US$1,350. For shipping costs in US dollars, the shipping company will ship at a loss.
According to analysis by industry insiders, the cost per large box of a 10,000-ton-class ship is estimated to be about US$1,500, and the cost per large box of a medium-sized ship with 7 or 8,000 boxes is estimated to be about US$1,700. Even though marine fuel and charter rates have fallen recently, the cost per large box The price of US$1,350 means operating at a loss. Currently, the shipping company relies on the freight rates of the US East, Europe and weekly routes to maintain overall profits.
In addition, if there are many long-term contract customers and the long-term contract customers respect the spirit of the contract and do not bargain easily, the actual profit of the shipping company will be much better than that of its peers.
284 container ships idle around the world
Recently, idle container ship capacity has exceeded 1 million TEU, and this number will increase significantly as carriers prepare to suspend route services rather than suspend sailings.
According to Alphaliner data, as of October 24, the number of idle container ships in dry dock or for rent worldwide has reached 284, with a transport capacity of up to 1.2 million TEU, accounting for 4.6% of the global fleet capacity.
Alphaliner said that “weak freight demand and falling freight rates have prompted shipping companies to cut some sailings and even suspend some services on major east-west trade routes.”
In the past two weeks, the number of suspensions and reductions in sailings by shipping companies from Asia, Europe and the trans-Pacific has increased significantly. For example, some Asia-North Europe routes have been canceled for several weeks in a row.
According to the latest data from Drewry, among the major trades: Trans-Pacific, Trans-Atlantic and Asia-Northern Europe and Mediterranean, in Week 45 (November 7-13) and Week 49 (December 5-11) During the period, 100 flights were canceled out of a total of 734 scheduled flights, a cancellation rate of 14%.
During this period, 56% of blank sailings will occur eastbound on the Trans-Pacific, 24% on Asia-North Europe and the Mediterranean, and 20% on the Trans-Pacific�Westward trade.
In addition, Drewry reminded shippers and bco to remain vigilant. The epidemic situation in China and possible rail disruptions in the United States may cause further operational difficulties and affect the flow of goods between China and the United States.
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