The shortage of containers and cabins is getting worse! The price of ocean freight to the US has increased by 25% in half a month

Recently, air freight prices have fallen, and quotations of 50 or even 4X have appeared one after another, which has relieved sellers who can only replenish small quantities. However, the prices of sea freight, the main channel that sellers rely on, have been rising again and again. One seller lamented: the sea freight price has increased by 25% in half a month, and the profit has been hit again.

There is a shortage of containers but the space is still hard to get, and the price of space has soared, which has even given rise to a profession of scalpers. "Four people in the office competed online for a Rotterdam space, but it was sold out in seconds. It was as difficult as grabbing a May Day train ticket." said a freight forwarder.

However, the trend of rising shipping prices may continue. At present, the freight index of nearly 80% of the world's shipping routes has risen, and Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM have raised the comprehensive rate increase surcharge. Some freight forwarders have analyzed that the shipping costs will not fall steadily until the second quarter of next year at the earliest.

Sea freight prices increased by 25% in half a month , and sellers said it was "too expensive"

Combined with the recent industry situation, some Amazon sellers have realized that it is difficult to maintain high growth this year, and it is good enough to stabilize profits and profit margins. One of the factors is the skyrocketing shipping costs. One seller complained: "The profit margin has suffered a double blow from the 25% increase in shipping prices in half a month and the exchange rate."

When the editor asked about the US shipping quotes in the past half month, another seller said bluntly: "My God, it's too expensive." A freight forwarder said: "It has increased by 2 yuan, an increase of about 15-20%." Another freight forwarder notified: "Due to the continuous increase in the cost of ocean shipping cabinets, our company's ocean shipping high-end product prices/food container freight rates will increase by 2 RMB/kg based on the original quote, effective immediately."

A Ningbo freight forwarder provided the company's latest shipping price list. The price for Amazon West Coast shipments over 100 kg is 10.5, the price for Amazon Central Coast shipments is 11.5, and the price for Amazon East Coast shipments is 12.5.

Take Matson as an example, how much has the shipping quote received by the seller increased? The freight forwarder analyzed that the current US-SINUS container price from Ningbo to Los Angeles is US$9,000, only for arrival at the port. In October last year, the price of unpalletized cargo delivered to PHX5, ONT9, and PHX7 warehouses in Los Angeles was US$5,000 to US$6,000, and the price of palletized cargo was only US$7,000 to US$8,000.

Why have shipping prices increased so much? The main reason is still the shortage of containers and tight ship space, but many freight forwarders pointed out that, taking Matson as an example, the high prices in the market are all due to reselling shipping space.

The shortage of containers and cabins is getting worse. Four people can’t even grab one cabin space.

Freight forwarding staff informed us that it is now difficult to get space on the US route, and there is even a profession of scalpers who swipe containers, with commissions ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 for swiping a container number .

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

According to CCTV Finance, data shows that among the 21 shipping routes in the world , the freight index of 16 shipping routes has increased, and only 5 shipping routes have decreased. Among the major ports along the "Maritime Silk Road", the freight index of 12 ports has increased. Industry insiders analyzed that before September this year, it is difficult for container shipping prices to fall.

This has resonated with many freight forwarders, and shipping space prices have gone through the roof.

A freight forwarder said: "The day before yesterday, I lamented to my colleague that the price of a container on the European route is now $12,000. The next day, when she was checking for a customer, she told me with a smile that the price had increased by another 600. It's only been one night, are you kidding me?" Another person said: Four people in the office were trying to grab a Rotterdam space online, but it was sold out in seconds. It was as difficult as grabbing May Day train tickets and Tianjin Deyun Club tickets.

A freight forwarder said: "I have been working as a domestic freight forwarder for six years. This year's ocean freight prices have continued to hit new highs. Every day I ask shipping companies for space. Even if I book space, there are no containers. Even if there are containers, the drivers cannot pick them up at the dock. Even if they are loaded back to the dock, they cannot be shipped out. The half-month shipping schedule has been extended to one month or even one and a half months. Every day is so exciting."

But this is not the peak.

Hapag-Lloyd announced that it will increase the General Rate Increase (GRI) for eastbound routes from East Asia to the United States and Canada from June 1. The charging standard is US$960 per container for all 20-foot containers and US$1,200 per container for all 40-foot containers.

CMA CGM raised the GRI for routes from Asian ports to the United States and Canada by up to USD 1,600 per box from June 1. MSC also raised the GRI and fuel surcharge for routes from Asia to the United States from June 1.

Some freight forwarders predict that it will take until the second quarter of next year for shipping costs to fall steadily. Many cross-border sellers are helpless as their pace this year has been completely disrupted.

While sea freight prices continue to rise, air freight prices have fallen back.

Air delivery prices have dropped, and there are freight forwarders quoting prices starting with 4

The prices of air freight and express delivery have fallen this week. A freight forwarder quoted a price starting with 5, saying that air delivery to the United States and Canada is on sale at the same time.

There are also freight forwarders that offer lower quotes, with the price starting with 4 for goods reaching 300. However, the editor noticed that most of the freight forwarders' quotes currently start with 5, and only a few freight forwarders offer lower than this value.

Last month, the price of air freight rose to nearly 7. At that time, some sellers said that they didn’t know when air freight would return to the level starting with 3. After a short period of continuous price drops, the current price is unexpected for many people. Some freight forwarders even complained: the price of air freight is still falling, and small companies can’t survive!

In response to this wave of air freight price cuts, some freight forwarders informed their customers that the price adjustment was only a temporary one and they should arrange to replenish their stocks as soon as possible, as next week the prices would rise sharply again and problems such as flight scheduling delays would follow.

An industry insider analyzed that the price adjustment of US and European air delivery may be related to the reduction of sellers' orders. Could it be that the unsale of several big-selling products has had too great an impact?

In addition to air delivery, the price of express delivery has also fallen. A freight forwarder quoted that the price of express delivery has dropped to starting with 5.

Dunhuang.com issued an announcement: Some express delivery channels have experienced warehouse congestion for shipments to the United States. The announcement stated that after receiving notification from the warehouse, some express delivery channels have experienced warehouse congestion for shipments to the United States. Sellers are requested to explain this to the recipients in advance.

It is hard to say what the future trend of air delivery and express delivery will be, but the current situation at the end of the United States is not optimistic.

Gasoline shortage in the United States may affect terminal delivery

Colonial Pipeline, a large fuel pipeline operator in the United States, was recently attacked by ransomware and was forced to shut down its refined oil pipeline. The time for full restart is currently uncertain.

As a result, gas stations in many states in the United States experienced gasoline shortages and rising oil prices, and many consumers began to panic buy oil.

(American cars line up to refuel)

According to Bloomberg, in response to gasoline shortages, the U.S. Department of Transportation made an exception to allow foreign tankers to transport gasoline and diesel to East Coast ports.

The situation has been monitored by Fayetteville-based Holt Oil Co. , which also operates Holt convenience stores.

Hannah Holt, operations director, said : "We expect this disruption to last for several weeks and all our stores are sold out. There may be some premium petrol left . It is not known when the next deliveries will be made. "

Gasoline prices are also rising because of the shortage. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national retail price of gasoline reached $2.985 on the 11th, the highest level in nearly six years.

“The outages will have an impact on gasoline supply and prices, with the greatest impact being on the East Coast,” said AAA spokeswoman Tiffany Wright.

Holt noted that the shortages aren't just at gas stations, but are also affecting travelers and will have some impact on the logistics industry, which will be a problem if grocery store trucks can't deliver product.

Executives at Wilmington-based MegaCorp Logistics said the pipeline situation is directly impacting its customers’ pickups and deliveries on the East Coast.

“There are already supply and demand issues in the trucking industry,” Katie Braskett, marketing director at MegaCorp Logistics, said in an email. “For example, on average, one-quarter of the freight tendered and ready to ship cannot be picked up on time due to a lack of available trucks. In addition, this is the 11th consecutive week that the tender index (an index of electronically tendered freight volumes on a given day) has been above 15,000, which was not achieved before the pandemic.”

"This is impacting already high freight costs, not having to use fuel will impact their business and cause shipping costs to soar further in some areas," Braskett said.

So far, airlines have not been affected, the airline said.

The editor contacted domestic logistics companies to inquire about the situation, and several logistics companies said that they are not affected at present .