Sea and air freight rates are rising! European and American routes had been suspended and hopped to ports in large areas, and the Civil Aviation Administration called for the suspension of passenger c

As the Northern hemisphere enter into winter, the epidemic situation in Europe and the United States rebounded extensively, and the COVID-19 situation remains severe. The global economic recovery is also facing greater uncertainty.

At present, the market freight rate of the the east and west coasts of the United States routes continue to fluctuate at a relatively high level. Freight rates in Southeast Asia are also rising. The Civil Aviation Administration stopped "passenger-to-cargo", air freight capacity was tight, and freight rates to the United States increased...  

Large area suspension and port hopping of European and American routes

According to foreign media reports, THE Alliance (HAPAG-LLOYD, ONE, HMM, YML) planed to suspend a quarter of Asia-Europe routes in early December, and Hapag-Lloyd planed to increase the rate of this route by 70%. The German shipping company's FAK rate from Asia to Northern Europe will increase by US$2,000 to US$4,890 per FEU from December 1.

In addition, CMA CGM also announced a suspension plan from South China to the West of the United States.

Due to port congestion, Wan Hai Shipping previously stated that it was transferring ships from its six Asia-Western US routes to its intra-Asia routes.

ZIM Shipping also diverted ships on the Asia-US West Coast route and suspended its express service calls to Los Angeles for at least seven weeks.  

Recently, a freight forwarder friend said, “A large area of U.S. routes had been suspended. It is expected that the ocean freight will increase in December and the space will be tight. If there is a shipment plan in the near future, it is recommended to arrange in advance.”  

Maersk’s latest market information report released on the 24th said that overall demand in December is expected to remain strong. Congestion at North American ports had deteriorated recently, and the waiting time for ships in Los Angeles/Long Beach/Seattle had increased to 21 days. Port congestion will still result in a shortage of voyages and capacity.  

In the outlook for shipping capacity and container conditions in the first quarter of 2022, Maersk pointed out that: due to port congestion and shipping delays caused by reduced capacity, we expect space to remain very tight during the entire Lunar New Year.  

Before the Spring Festival, there will still be a shortage of containers in some areas, but the overall situation of containers had improved significantly compared with the previous few months.  

Freight rates in Southeast Asia soar

Recently, several ports in Southeast Asia had experienced port congestion in succession:  

The congestion rate of PortKlangport in Malaysia is 14.5% higher than normal;  

The congestion rate of TanjungPelepas port is 29.9% higher than usual;  

Jakarta's container hub Tanjung Priok port had a congestion rate 6.7% higher than normal;  

Manila's congestion rate also increased by 6.5%.  

Moreover, the ship schedule is chaotic and the shipping company had no reason to postpone it. In addition, some shipping companies had also issued notices of price increases in Southeast Asia routes.  

Xie Hanting, chairman of the Selangor Freight and Logistics Brokers Association of Malaysia, said that many countries had implemented blockade measures, which had impacted the economic field, resulting in many cancellations of shipping schedules or "air navigation" situations.  

In particular, the reduction in shipping schedules of Chinese cargo ships had exacerbated the problem of shortage containers. Nowadays, almost all ports in the world, especially transit hub ports had longer waiting times for berthing and unloading.  

Xie Hanting said that although the freight rate is expected to be lowered from March to April next year, it is believed that it will not be lowered to the level before the epidemic immediately. By then, the price of most imported goods, including food will rise, and I am afraid that the high cost will be passed on to consumers.  

The Civil Aviation Administration suspended "passenger-to-cargo" change, and the price of U.S. route air freight had rose

A few days ago, the Civil Aviation Administration held a "passenger-to-cargo" flight operation promotion meeting to standardize the cabin cargo standards of "passenger-to-cargo" flights, requiring the cabin to prohibit the carriage of non-anti-epidemic items.  

Starting from January 1, 2022, only anti-epidemic-related items are allowed to be loaded in the passenger cabin. Specifically, the carrier establishes a whitelist system for goods to clarify the names of the anti-epidemic materials that can be carried.  

At the same time, the new regulations also required that cabin seats cannot be removed to increase cargo space. Airlines that have been removed or are undergoing modification projects should be restored to their original configuration.  

Foreign airlines have not yet received the above notice, but domestic airlines’ international flights will most likely be affected.  

In this regard, some insiders said that the new regulations will further aggravate the current tight air capacity.  

According to the TAC Index, the price of air freight into the United States is rising, and freight from Shanghai had risen by more than 14% in the past week. According to the index, the shipping cost from Shanghai to North America was US$13.62 per kg, while the shipping cost outside Hong Kong rose by 4.4% to US$12.09 per kg.  

A European freight company said that airlines are shipping Asian cargo to North America through Europe. "Maybe due to the trans-Pacific congestion, airlines are diverting Asian cargo through Europe to the United States. The current European and American tariffs seem to be extremely high."