Recently, foreign trade people who have been troubled by shipping costs for a long time have finally come out of the circle – “#中国 Foreign Trade Enterprise.#” has become a hot search on Weibo. This topic has even been read more than 130 million times.
The situation of hard-to-find containers caused by the rapid recovery of the shipping market in the second half of 2020 continues this year.
Some “astronomical figures” may make ordinary citizens outside the foreign trade circle stunned:
Currently, a high cabinet is shipped to the United States. The freight price can be quoted as 15,000-20,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to more than 100,000 yuan in RMB.
Someone commented under the topic: “The normal price before the epidemic in Oji Port was eight to nine hundred US dollars, but now it is eight to nine thousand US dollars, and some cabins still have to queue up.”
Some netizens said:
No one wants to discuss the freight price that has increased tenfold , more foreign trade people are seriously inquiring: “Where can I get this price?”
Because the freight rate from Asia to Europe has already exceeded 10,000 US dollars.
Some people say that when foreign traders produce goods now, it is comparable to learning from the West:
Robbing for shipping space, grabbing cabinets, and fighting “scalpers”;
The order cutoff is early and the port opening is late, and there will be a large amount of withholding fees and drop-off fees;
Some companies press We have more than 500 cabinets and can’t get them out, so we can only rent out warehouses with a monthly rent of 200,000 yuan;
Some companies have all the goods ready, but after receiving notifications from customers, It is said that there will be no shipments this year, let’s put it next year;
Some goods have been floating on the sea for three months, but they cannot enter the port and cannot be unloaded. The salesperson is chased by customers every day. Scold;
What foreign trade lacks is not orders, but the operational capabilities of cabinets, ships, and destination ports.
So, the exporter wanted to sail.
Countries have taken steps to rectify the chaotic market
The increasingly soaring freight prices have become the biggest “black swan” in the foreign trade industry in 2021, making veteran foreign traders who have been in the industry for 20 years shout “see you soon”.
China, the United States, Europe and South Korea have all begun to rectify the chaotic shipping market:
my country has revised the “Port Charge Plan” “Measures on Fees”, urging port operating units to further clean up and streamline fee items, clarify fee names and service contents, and investigate and deal with suspected monopolistic behaviors in port operating activities in accordance with laws and regulations.
The U.S. government issued an executive order to crack down on “unfair and unreasonable fees” and launched audits of the world’s nine largest shipping companies except ZIM. (None of the top 10 shipping companies are American.)
The South Korean government directly provides subsidies and guarantees space to small and medium-sized export companies, and requires the country’s largest shipping company HMM to add temporary ships.
In addition, the Korean Fair Trade Commission is reviewing the suspected behavior of HMM, Xingya Shipping and other liner companies in the country for raising freight rates and formulating sanctions.
Operators may pay a fine equal to 8.5%-10% of service revenue; the total amount of the fine is currently undisclosed. But it was revealed that the 12 South Korean liner operators will face fines of approximately US$440 million.
Shipping company profits hit record high
It is reported that 11 major shipping companies in the world The total net profit before interest and tax (EBIT) of the liner companies in the first quarter of 2021 reached a record high of US$16.2 billion, exceeding the combined first quarter EBIT of the past 10 years.
In addition, the profits of companies such as COSCO Shipping Holdings, CMA CGM, Evergreen Marine, Yang Ming Shipping, and ZIM in the first quarter of 2021 exceeded the profits of the whole of last year.
According to the quarterly analysis of the container shipping market by Drewry, an international shipping research and consulting organization, 2021 will be a year of huge disruption to port and ship system operations. It was the most profitable year in the history of container shipping, with carrier profits approaching US$100 billion and average freight rates rising by 50%.
Moreover, this high freight rate is expected to continue until early 2022.
The social topic of foreign trade people should not be a flash in the pan on hot searches. We also hope that the current foreign trade environment and difficulties can be seen and recognized by more people, and finally be able to give Timely and powerful support from the foreign trade industry! </p
