Rising across the board! Logistics prices may soar again before the Spring Festival

The skyrocketing sea and air freight costs in 2021 have caused headaches for many sellers. In the first month of 2022, there is news that freight prices will rise again...

Meisen prices may rise across the board again!

Matson prices have been soaring in 2021, with freight and container costs being ridiculously high, once approaching $40,000.

During this period, the price of Matson also dropped, such as during the National Day in 2021, but then rebounded. From the highest close to 30 to the lowest below 20, the price fluctuated frequently. Many carriers thought that there would be some relief in 2022, but the reality was not as expected.

According to many industry insiders, next week there will be another round of price increases on Matson routes, and European routes will be no exception.

As early as the end of December 2021, many freight forwarders said that the shipping price may rise to US$20,000 per container , and Matsun will reach US$26,000 , and Matsun's regular ship will also rise to US$40,000 . The reasons for the increase include the suspension of ordinary ships on related routes, tight space , and unresolved supply chain issues.

In addition, the recurrence of the epidemic has exacerbated these problems. Recently, the epidemic in Ningbo Beilun has also caused many Mason cabinets that were shipped from that port to be transferred to nearby ports such as Shanghai.

Many carriers say that it is too difficult. Not only are the prices high, but they may also face the issue of whether the goods can be shipped or whether they can arrive.

The increase in Matson's prices has caused distress to carriers, but has brought a lot of benefits to the shipping company. According to Matson's previous announcement, the company's operating income in the third quarter of fiscal year 2021 was US$2.658 billion, an increase of more than 57% year-on-year. The operating income in the third quarter alone reached US$1.072 billion, an increase of 66.09% year-on-year.

The shipping companies' good profits are in contrast to the small and medium-sized sellers' pursuit of stable profits. Some sellers said that they were helpless after learning about the freight news, and they had no other choice but to ship the goods as they should. Frequent fluctuations in freight rates cannot be stabilized by one person alone.

Behind the rising freight rates, port congestion has always been a top priority that needs to be addressed urgently.

More than 100,000 empty containers are stranded, and the Port of Los Angeles plans to charge

Although the peak season has ended and sellers' orders have gradually returned to normal, the congestion faced by ports is still tight, and the US government has been under pressure to ease the congestion. To this end, a series of relevant measures have been taken, such as requiring the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach to operate around the clock and charging detention fees for containers that stay for a long time.

According to the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, the number of detained containers at the port has dropped 53% since the port announced plans to charge for detained containers on October 24. But on the other hand, Matt Schrap, CEO of the Port Trucking Association, sees a different situation.

Matt Schrap said it is a lack of productivity and efficiency, not a shortage of drivers and trucks, that is causing supply chain problems, and the pileup of empty containers is making the situation worse. According to the Port Trucking Association, more than 100,000 empty containers are now stranded at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

In response, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles , announced last month that the port will impose fees on long-term empty containers starting January 30. The Port of Los Angeles intends to charge $100 for each empty container that stays for more than 9 days, and an additional $100 per day will be charged as the time increases until the box leaves the port.

“While we have had significant success in reducing import containers on our terminals over the past two months, there are still too many empty containers at our marine terminals,” said Seroka. “Like the previous container detention fees, the purpose of this empty container program is not to charge fees, but to free up valuable space on our terminals, clearing the way for more vessels and improving liquidity.”

The proposal needs to be approved by the Los Angeles Harbor Commission at a board meeting on January 13. Given the previous delays in container detention fees, it remains to be seen whether this charge for empty containers will be implemented.

However, some US transporters have expressed concerns that the empty container detention fees at the Port of Los Angeles may cause shipping companies to delay shipping boxes back to the port . Drayage companies also believe that this may prompt ocean liners to take a stricter stance on accepting empty containers, because there have been problems with returning empty containers before. If the empty container is not picked up and loaded by the same ocean carrier, many terminals will not accept the return of empty containers.

In addition to sea transportation, the situation of domestic air transportation is also not impressive.

The epidemic is imminent! Hong Kong bans flights from 8 countries from arriving...

On January 5, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region stated that the fifth wave of epidemic in Hong Kong is imminent, so Hong Kong will tighten social distancing measures for 14 days starting from January 7.

According to the editor, as of January 4, there were 102 confirmed cases of Omicron in Hong Kong, of which 97 were imported cases. At 18:00 on the evening of January 7, the total number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China reached 301 !

In order to strengthen epidemic prevention and control, Hong Kong will ban flights from eight countries from arriving in Hong Kong from January 8 to January 21 , including civil airliners from the United States, France, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the Philippines. People who have stayed in the above-mentioned regions will also be prohibited from boarding flights to Hong Kong.

Around mid-December, a new variant of the virus, Omicron, was discovered in many countries, followed by cases of infection with the virus in Israel, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries.

It is reported that in the past few days, the United Kingdom, France and other countries have had more than 200,000 new cases per day . As of 18:00 on the evening of January 7, France has more than 10.59 million confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, and the United Kingdom has more than 3.24 million confirmed cases.

The United States, as a key epidemic country since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported more than 1 million new confirmed cases on January 3, setting a new single-day record since the outbreak.

At the same time, the epidemic situation in US ports is not optimistic. According to foreign media reports, 100 workers in the two major ports in the western United States, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, have been diagnosed with COVID-19 . This news is likely to have a serious impact on the operating efficiency of the two major ports in the western United States . The long-standing congestion in the western US ports and the low efficiency of container evacuation are likely to worsen again .

The increase in shipping costs, the increase in container demurrage fees, and the reduction in international air flights will have a certain impact on cross-border sellers. The repeated outbreaks of the epidemic have hindered cross-border logistics , and container congestion will continue to increase sellers' transportation costs .

The current global epidemic situation remains severe, especially in Europe and the United States, where the epidemic is still in the outbreak stage. Judging from past experience, the epidemic will stimulate the increase of online consumption among European and American people to a certain extent;

But at the same time, the increase in logistics costs caused by the epidemic and problems such as tight supply chain are still important factors that seriously affect the development of the cross-border e-commerce industry. Sellers must be prepared to deal with the epidemic in the long term.

North America

Logistics prices may soar again