Shipping volume to the US drops sharply! Airlines cut prices to attract customers

Domestic export shipping orders to the United States plummet

According to foreign media reports, several US shipping carriers said they decided to reduce shipping trips in September due to congestion at US and Canadian ports.

Flight bookings are down, which means peak season demand will also be disappointing.

In fact, shipments on the US route have been declining from May to August this year. Data shows that ocean bookings from China to major ports on the West and East Coasts of the United States are far below the highest level in two years.

Due to the instability of the overall environment, cross-border sellers have chosen a more cautious approach and have not chosen to make large-scale stockings before the peak season arrives. This may be one of the reasons for the decline in shipping bookings.

Shipping lines are cutting sailings in an apparent attempt to slow a downward trend in freight rates.

Carriers cut freight rates to attract customers

According to Eastern Star Group, unlike last year or even a few months ago, all routes are now open and shipping companies are making freight rate adjustments every week in order to attract more bookings.

The latest ocean freight rates from Freightos show that freight rates from China to the U.S. West Coast fell 6% to $5,759, while freight rates from China to the U.S. East Coast fell 3% to $9,184.

However, affected by factors such as strikes, prices on some routes remain strong. Due to the Felixstowe strike and previous labor conflicts in Germany, which led to large-scale port congestion, freight rates from Europe to North America and from China to Europe are rising.

Port congestion affects the return of ships for replenishment, pushing up storage costs

The strike at Felixstowe is expected to cause further complications for east coast ports, which could hit U.S. imports, according to Adil Ashiq, director of MarineTraffic.

The strike at Felixstowe is affecting $4.7 billion worth of cargo. Andreas Braun, product director for logistics at Crane Worldwide, said it would take at least two months to clear the backlog of containers.

Unions have warned that port disruptions could continue until Christmas if a 10% wage demand is not met.

The delivery notes at Felixstowe Port show that many of the world's retail giants use the port, including Amazon, General Mills, L'Oréal, GlaxoSmithKline, Bacardi, Kellogg, Mars Video and Diageo.

In July this year , Seko Logistics explained to shippers that congestion at ports on the East Coast of the United States affected the return of ships to Shenzhen Port for reloading.

In addition, the surge in the number of containers on the East Coast has led to a rapid increase in storage demand, and storage costs on the East Coast have skyrocketed, rising 8% since January.

This is obviously another blow to cross-border sellers. Higher storage costs and longer delivery times have become the sword of Damocles hanging over the sellers' heads. Although freight rates in the East and West Coast of the United States have dropped, they are insignificant compared to the risks that sellers need to bear.

USA

port

Congestion