As early as May and June, the congestion of European ports has already appeared, and the congestion in the western region of the United States has not been significantly relieved. According to the Clarksons Container Port Congestion Index, as of June 30, 36.2% of the world’s container ships were stranded in ports, up from 31.5% from 2016 to 2019 before the pandemic. #paper cup fan

In fact, after the epidemic, the problem of port congestion has not been completely resolved. One of the reasons for the soaring freight rates in the second half of last year is that port congestion has caused a significant reduction in the timeliness of ships, a container is hard to find, and supply and demand are out of balance.

Recently, strikes at multiple ports have further disrupted the operation plan. Although the current situation has temporarily eased, the follow-up impact of the strike will continue, resulting in a contraction of the effective capacity of container ships.

Different from last year, what accompanied port congestion was not the soaring freight rate, but the decline in freight rate for half a year, and the increase in demand was not as good as expected.

Port congestion intensifies

In June this year, the port of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe, was in emergency, the backlog was getting worse, and a large number of empty containers could not be put into use in time. #pe coated paper roll

The ports on the east coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico, which are separated from the port of Rotterdam by an Atlantic Ocean, are also crowded with container ships waiting to berth. Analysis of MarineTraffic vessel tracking data and California vessel queues showed 125 container ships were waiting to call outside North American ports as of July 8, a 36 percent increase from 92 vessels a month earlier.

Congestion at ports in Europe has been going on for days. The Kiel trade indicator data released by the Kiel Institute for World Economics in Germany on July 6 shows that since June, more than 2% of global freight capacity has been at a standstill in the North Sea. #pe coated paper roll for paper cups

After the increase of ship berthing, the punctuality rate of shipping companies declined. The June liner punctuality index released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange shows that in the case of a slight rebound in the overall punctuality rate in June, the punctuality rate of the Asia-Europe route to the departure service and the delivery service are 18.87% and 18.87% respectively. 26.67%, an increase of 1.21 percentage points and a decrease of 7.13 percentage points from May respectively.

On the China-US route, the congestion at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles remains high. Some analysts said that with the recovery of Shanghai port capacity after June 1, the number of liner ships from China to the West of the United States has rebounded sharply. These ships arrived in a concentrated manner in July, and the congestion of the ports of the West of the United States has rebounded. #pe coated paper cup roll paper

Specifically, according to US shipping media reports, as of July 11, the Port of Long Beach had 28,723 containers berthed for nine days or more, which was 9% higher than the total in late October. The previous 12 days saw a 40% jump in the number of containers parked for extended periods of time.

Still, the Port of Los Angeles is showing signs of easing after congestion, slowing growth in high demand for consumer goods has eased pressure on ocean freight, and freight rates from Asia to North America’s west coast have nearly halved since the start of the year.

However, it should be noted that although the liner punctuality rate of various ports in the West American port group rose more or less than the previous period in June, due to the strike of railway workers, the average time of ships in Vancouver Port was the longest at 8.52 days; ships in Los Angeles Port The average time in port is 6.13 days; the average time in port of Long Beach port is 5.71 days. #pe coated paper cup raw material roll wholesale

Workers’ strike adds to the blockage

The 48-hour strike by German dockworkers began on July 14 and ended at 6 a.m. Saturday. About 12,000 dock workers will participate in the strike, including the daily operations of Germany’s major container ports such as the Port of Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven, which will be severely affected. This is Germany’s longest port strike in 40 years. #pepar cup raw materials

According to data provided by Haitong Futures, the recent frequent strikes and the lack of labor supply have once again led to the worsening of port congestion. The current capacity in port is 2.15 million TEU, up 2.8% from the beginning of July and 5.7% from the June average. The latest number of container ships in the Port of Rotterdam in Germany is about 37, and the total capacity has climbed to 247,000 TEU, an increase of 13% from the average in June.

According to Maersk, the 48-hour strike at German terminals directly affected its operations in Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven. After the strike, shipping companies are busy adjusting their shipping schedules in Northern Europe, which is expected to result in more empty sailings. Further negotiations between the Central Association of German Seaport Companies (ZDS) and the unions will take place until 26 August. #raw material paper cup

In addition to the strike, a labor shortage in the Port of Rotterdam has also been limiting further development of the port. Allard Castelein, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam, recently told the media that with the development of the port, there are currently 8,000 job gaps in the Port of Rotterdam.

At the same time, on July 13, local time, some drivers in the Los Angeles area announced a strike, adding pressure to the already tense supply chain. According to the latest data from the Port of Los Angeles, as of July 13, there were 32,412 rail containers waiting to be shipped at the port, of which 20,533 had been stranded for nine days or more.

Will the “hard to find a box” return?

In the shipping field, any unsmooth link will cause congestion in the entire supply chain. The recent port congestion has put pressure on the empty container circulation.

According to Vincent Starmer, head of trade indicators at Kiel, world trade showed a slightly positive trend in June, but severe congestion, high transport costs and the resulting supply chain difficulties inhibited the exchange of goods.

He further explained that once a large amount of cargo is piled up, the port, container yard and inland system will cause a lot of pressure, and this huge pressure will continue for several years. As a result, empty containers are piling up at the terminal, and more and more containers are going back and forth, including a large number of containers that are supposed to be shipped back to Asia. #paper cup fan raw material

The information previously released by Maersk also shows that as early as June 30, the utilization rate of the Vancouver yard has exceeded 100%, and the container has been buried. The utilization rate of the container yard reached 113% on July 8.

Zhang Dejun, general manager of China Taicang Ocean Shipping Agency Co., Ltd., told Jiemian News that after the destination port is congested, the storage time of heavy containers in the port, including the unpacking time, will be greatly increased, which also means that the operating time of a container will be greatly increased, resulting in The scarcity of export empty boxes.

As for the current situation, Claudio Bozzo, chief operating officer of Mediterranean Shipping (MSC), the world’s largest container liner company, which has always been low-key and mysterious, said that it is expected that the situation may worsen in the next few months, and the current congestion situation will continue until the rest of 2022.

Congestion is a major factor driving up freight rates. An analysis report by SDIC Anxin Futures Research Institute shows that the worsening congestion of European and American ports will once again constrain the current shipping capacity and affect the supply of effective shipping capacity in the market. Superimposed on the upcoming peak shipping season, it will form a certain support for freight rates in the short term. . In addition, the peak summer vacation may further tighten the labor force, and the falling water level of the Rhine restricts inland transportation, which also increases the risk of worsening port congestion.

Even so, the current downward trend in freight rates has not changed significantly. According to the latest data from Shanghai Shipping Exchange, the Container Freight Index (SCFI) edged down by 1.67% to 4074.70 points, of which the freight rate of the largest freight volume in the US-Western route fell by 3.39%, and fell below US$7,000 per 40-foot container. Come to 6883 US. The latest Drewry index also shows that the weekly assessment of spot freight from Shanghai to Los Angeles is US$7,480/FEU, down 23% year-on-year. This assessment is 40% below the peak of $12,424/FEU in late November 2021, but still 5.3 times higher than the rate for the same period in 2019. #pe coated paper raw material for paper cup fan

This decline is not unrelated to the slowdown in trade demand. Zhang Dejun said that during the outbreak of the epidemic in Shanghai in the first half of this year, the company needed to continuously coordinate and help shippers to deliver the goods. Now that the demand has slowed down, it is necessary to continue to find goods for shipping companies. A similar turnaround has occurred with other forwarders. As far as the current situation is concerned, various factors related to freight are intertwined, and the future trend is not very clear.

The above-mentioned analysis report of SDIC Anxin Futures Research Institute believes that the freight rate will maintain fluctuations within the platform range, and even rebound, but the hot market of the soaring freight rate in the peak season last year is difficult to reproduce. #Paper Cup Fan, Paper Cup Raw, Pe Coated Paper Roll – Dihui (nndhpaper.com)