The country has shot! 23 liner companies were heavily fined, and 9 major shipping companies are facing audits! After the successive controls by the Chinese and American governments, can the continuously skyrocketing freight rates cool down...
Severe congestion in major ports around the world has intensified, and ship schedule delays have intensified. And this summer's shipping prices are destined to be recorded in the history of the global container shipping market.
There are 328 ships stranded in ports around the world, and 116 ports have reported congestion!
According to statistics from the container transportation platform Seaexplorer, as of July 21,there were 328 ships stranded in ports around the world, and 116 ports had reported problems such as congestion.
Global port congestion on July 21 (red dots represent ship groups, orange represent ports in congestion or interrupted operations)
In response to the current port congestion problem in the market, as many as 10% of the global capacity has been occupied.
In the past month, with the release of the backlog of cargo at ports in southern China, the number of ships waiting outside the ports of Singapore and Los Angeles and Long Beach has doubled.
According to the latest statistics, 18 ships lined up off the coast of Los Angeles, and the average waiting time for berth was nearly 5 days, up from 3.96 days last month.
Regarding the current status of port congestion, the head of maritime and trade at IHS Markit said: "The rapid growth of freight volume and many terminals are still facing the problem of overloaded operations. Therefore, it is difficult to significantly improve the congestion problem."
The profit of the shipping company skyrocketed, but the freight forwarder was cold, and the foreign trader was forced to abandon the order...
The more serious congestion has brought about the continuous soaring ocean freight, pioneering value-added fees, rising surcharges, and the craziness of a box of 20,000 US dollars that foreigners have to face...
"The shipping price has reached more than four times that before the epidemic, and the space is tight, and the price is getting higher and higher. Some shipping companies have cancelled this year's long-term contract, all of which are implemented at market prices, and they earn more." Foreign trade professionals in European and American countries said.
"Is ocean shipping going to the sky? The profits of shipping companies are flying, but foreign traders complain!" Some foreign trade sellers also said with emotion.
The freight rate of the East Line of the U.S. exceeds 15,000 USD/FEU
Some freight forwarders said that with the successive adjustments of freight rates by major shipping companies around the world in July and August, if additional costs such as peak season surcharges, fuel costs, and cabin purchase fees are included, as well as the new round of various surcharges of major shipping companies recently At present, the freight rate of the Far East to the Eastern U.S. line can reach USD 15,000-18,000/FEU, the freight rate of the Western U.S. line exceeds USD 10,000/FEU, and the freight rate of the European line is approximately USD 15,000-20,000/FEU!
Starting from August 1st, Yixing will begin to collect congestion charges and delivery charges at the port of destination！
From August 5th, Mason will increase the port congestion charge again!
From August 5th, Mason will increase the port congestion charge again!
Starting from August 15th, Hapag-Lloyd Features will receive 5000$/box value-added surcharge for the US line!
The world's fifth-largest container liner company, the German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd, announced that it will charge a value-added fee for Chinese goods exported to the United States and Canada!
The margin is an additional US$4,000 for all 20-foot containers, and an additional US$5,000 for all 40-foot containers. It will be implemented on August 15th!
From September 1st, MSC will charge port clog fees for goods exported to the United States and Canada!
For goods exported from ports in South China and Hong Kong to the United States and Canada, our company will levy a port plug fee, as follows:
USD 800/20DV
USD 1000/40DV
USD 1125/40HC
USD 1266/45’
Faced with this rising surcharge, a foreign trade official said helplessly. "Golden Nine Silver Ten, I have received a lot of orders at this time in the past, but now I dare not accept it."
As the peak season approaches, once orders increase, shipping conditions will remain tight, port congestion charges are not the highest, but higher, as well as high raw materials and fluctuating exchange rates, which will make it even more difficult for foreign trade companies. "Do you know how difficult it is that the goods cannot be shipped out after they are ready?!"
Some sellers said, "The shipping company makes money wildly, while the foreign trade company can only cry wildly."
And it’s not only foreign trade sellers who cry crazily, but also freight forwarders.
Australia’s freight forwarders have recently expressed concern that these major shipping companies (including Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk’s subsidiary Hamburg Süd) are planning to establish a customer database to deal directly with shippers and completely get rid of agents. .
According to overseas media reports, a freight forwarder stated that some carriers refuse to accept any more cargo unless the freight forwarder agrees to book domestic inland truck transportation with the carrier, which requires the agent to provide the shipper’s detailed information.
However, it is difficult to find the next cabin, and in order to obtain available space, freight forwarders have no choice but to agree to these terms.
However, a Hapag-Lloyd spokesperson denied the existence of coercion: “Inland transportation is indeed part of the service we provide in Australia, but we will never insist that customers use this service in any form to ensure that we Service or space reservations.” Hamburg Süd also rejected in its statement that the freight forwarder was forced to disclose customer data.
The freight forwarder said, "After 6 to 12 months, when the market returns to normal, the operator will use the database to directly contact our customers for a quote. Then, who will find a freight forwarder?"
Paul Zale, director and co-founder of the Freight and Trade Alliance (FTA), member of the Secretariat of the Peak Shippers Association of Australia, and director of the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), believes that the threat from carriers is real. He explained, “Obviously, everyone in the Australian supply chain is facing threats, and the vertical integration trend of shipping companies, stevedores, etc. is increasing. Although the interruption of international trade and logistics is inevitable, we will pay more attention to ensuring All activities are in compliance with Australian law."
However, this latest move by the carrier enables them to understand the movement of the shipper, and there is no protection of the privacy of data owners in the competition rules. Therefore, it allows operators to reduce middlemen, and according to the group exemption rules that allow lines to form alliances, they can share this data.
Some experts believe that this problem does not only exist in Australia. It will be a problem of the global supply chain. Freight forwarders in all parts of the world will face this problem. Once it occurs, shippers will also rely more on the carrier, which will result in freight rate manipulation. It will be more obvious
Fine + audit! China and the United States have successively controlled freight charges
If the major shipping companies continue to increase the cost so much, will there be a way out for foreign traders and freight forwarders?
The good news is that the country has finally taken action, and the long-standing problem of high freight costs for the majority of foreign traders may be solved!
China asks South Korea to impose huge fines on 23 liner companies
At the National Assembly meeting on July 15, South Korean lawmaker Lee Man-hee reported that after the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) imposed a fine in June, the Chinese government sent a letter expressing different opinions.
The Chinese government protested to the South Korean government and demanded that 23 liner operators suspected of participating in collective freight pricing be imposed huge fines! The group consists of 12 Korean companies and some foreign companies, including some Chinese liner operators.
The Korea Shipowners’ Association and the Korea Shipping Association expressed their opposition to the penalty imposed for suspected fixed freight on the Korea-Southeast Asia route from 2003 to 2018;
- KFTC says:
- ·
- Operators may pay a fine equivalent to 8.5%-10% of service revenue;
The total amount of fines is currently not disclosed，However, it is believed that the 12 South Korean liner operators will face a fine of approximately US$440 million.
U.S. FMC strictly investigates detention fees and port detention fees! 9 major shipping companies are audited!
The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) recently informed the nine largest container shipping companies operating in the United States that under pressure from shippers, Congress and the White House, the agency will immediately begin auditing how they charge customers for demurrage and demurrage. Demurrage fees and unreasonable storage fees associated with continued port congestion.
FMC's audit targets are the container companies with the largest share of the freight market in the United States, including: Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping, COSCO Shipping Lines, CMA CGM, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, HMM and Yangming Shipping. The top ten shipping companies only survived by star.
Earlier, when the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced this executive order for shipping, he accused the shipping company of "the huge cost of the cargo during its stay in the port."
Shippers say that when traffic jams prevent them from picking up imported goods and returning container equipment, they have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars.
These unreasonable demurrage fees and demurrage fees have caused long-term dissatisfaction with shippers, so that the National Industrial Transportation Union (NITL) and the Agricultural Transportation Union (AgTC) have proposed to amend the legislation to change the laws on demurrage and demurrage fees. The burden of proof is transferred from the shipper to the carrier.
The wording to shift this burden is part of the draft bill, which aims to overturn the current regulatory system and may be introduced before Congress adjourns in August.
Post time: Jul-26-2021