Public data shows that on June 13th, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) was at 1942 points, reaching a new high since May 14th this year; On June 14th, the comprehensive index of China's export container freight rates was 1733.47 points, an increase of 140.9 points from June 7th.
Port congestion intensifies and transportation capacity is lacking
Since June, the already strong sea freight prices have once again experienced a new round of increase. Maersk, DaFei, Herbert and other leading shipping companies have successively issued the latest notices on peak season surcharges and price increases, covering routes in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and other regions.
Analysts suggest that the increase in freight rates reflects a certain degree of recovery in global trade. In the first four months of this year, China's import and export volume of goods increased by 5.7% year-on-year, and in April, the import and export volume increased by 8% year-on-year, exceeding market expectations.
Industry insiders believe that congestion in some ports will increase the demand for transportation capacity and even contribute to further increases in freight rates.
Forcing a surge in container transportation capacity
The combination of tight sea transportation capacity, shortage of containers, and difficulty in obtaining one cabin on some routes has brought challenges to the export business operation of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises.
Due to limited cabin space, "container dumping" situations also occur frequently. It is reported that the phenomenon of "container dumping" often occurs during the peak season of sea transportation, especially in large cargo volumes and limited space. The direct victims of container dumping are shippers, shippers, and freight forwarders, which may lead to delivery delays. Some freight forwarding companies, on the other hand, use extra money to protect their warehouses and containers, in order to avoid price increases and container dumping after booking.
In order to solve the problem of insufficient transportation capacity, shipowners have begun to urgently mobilize the capacity of other shipping routes, while increasing the number of charter ships, leading to a strengthening of the charter market prices. Some shipowners also hope to increase transportation capacity by building new ships.
According to data recently released by Clarkson, the cumulative global new ship order volume from January to May this year was 726 ships and 2012 million CGT (corrected total tons), a year-on-year increase of 6% in CGT. Among them, China undertook 479 ships and 12.3 million CGTs, a year-on-year increase of 20%, with a market share of 61%, ranking first in the world.
While major shipping companies are increasing their capacity, some small and medium-sized shipping companies are beginning to return to long-distance routes such as the Pacific and have started leasing more container ships. Under the operation of multiple shipping companies, container transportation capacity has surged. According to data from globally renowned shipping consulting firm Alphaliner on June 17th, the total operating capacity worldwide has reached 30 million TEUs (standard containers), with a total operating tonnage of 356 million tons.
Looking forward to diversified transportation methods
Although shipping companies have made efforts to increase their capacity through multiple means, they are still facing high sea freight prices due to increased market demand, route detours, port congestion, and other issues, putting the sea freight supply chain under test. Industry insiders also have different predictions about the future trend of maritime transportation.
