From May, many shipping companies will levy GRI! Prices on transpacific routes are going up again!

With the resumption of work and production in Shanghai, the industry estimates that the volume of seaborne cargo will increase rapidly starting in May. As demand gradually recovers, the already tight supply of container shipping capacity may push up freight rates to rebound. At the same time, a number of shipping companies also announced that they will increase the GRI in May.

price increase again：Another price hike: many shipping companies will levy GRI

Recently, many shipping companies announced that from May 1, the "General Rate Surcharge" (GRI) for the Asia-US trans-Pacific route will be raised.

For this price adjustment, a surcharge ranging from USD 1,000 to USD 2,000 will be levied per FEU (40-foot standard container), which is roughly equivalent to 10% to 20% based on the increase in freight rates. Including COSCO, ONE, Evergreen, Yang Ming, HMM and other shipping companies are among the list of price increases.

Several leading container carriers serving trans-Pacific routes have updated their respective rates recently, including a new combined rate Surcharge (GRI) increase effective April 15, 2022, according to a news flash from the Beacon DPI Information Platform in Oakland, California, USA. , which includes COSCO, Evergreen, Ocean Network Express (ONE) and ZIM.

GRI adjustment of each shipping company from April 15th

Evergreen is USD1,000 per 40-foot Dry container , and USD2,000 per refrigerated container.

HMM is increased by 1000-2000 dollars per 40-foot container.

COSCO charges an additional $1,000 per 40-foot container. Applies only to all shipments under a service contract. The GRI, which was previously in force on February 15, 2022, was postponed until March 15, 2022, and subsequently until April 15, 2022.

ONE will increase by USD1,000 per 40-foot container.

Yangming charges an additional USD 1,000-2,000 per 40-foot container.

ZIM is increased by USD1,000 per 40-foot container.

The GRI for all other sizes of containers is converted according to the formula.

A number of operators have also updated their rates, including the new General Rate Increase Surcharge (GRI) effective May 1, 2022, including Evergreen, HMM, Ocean Network Express (ONE), Yang Ming and ZIM .

GRI adjustment of various shipping companies from May 1

Evergreen is USD1,000 per 40-foot Dry container , and USD2,000 per refrigerated container.

HMM is increased by 1000-2000 dollars per 40-foot container.

ONE will increase by USD1,000 per 40-foot container.

Yangming charges an additional USD 1,000-2,000 per 40-foot container.

ZIM is increased by USD1,000 per 40-foot container.

The GRI for all other sizes of containers is converted according to the formula.

Note: HMM and Yangming GRI are both USD1,000 per 40-foot container for goods shipped to USWC, USEC, and US Gulf Coast destinations, and USD1,000 per 40-foot container for goods shipped to IPI, MLB, and RIPI destinations. The container is $2000. The GRI of all other sizes of containers is converted according to the formula.

Freight rates will stop falling

With the orderly resumption of work in Shanghai, in addition to the large-scale shipments of the manufacturing industry, the originally blocked ports will also be gradually opened, which will gradually smooth the broken supply chain, and the already tight supply of container ship capacity may appear even bigger gap, pushing up freight rates to rebound.

The latest Shanghai Export Container Shipping Index (SCFI) fell 0.82% to 4,228.65 points for the week. Although it fell for 13 consecutive weeks, the decline narrowed.

In particular, the freight rate of the Far East to the US east line increased by 0.64%, which has been rising for two consecutive weeks, the freight rate of the US west line stopped falling and remained flat, and the decline of the European line also narrowed to 1.15%. Experts believe that this shows that demand is picking up gradually, and spot freight rates have bottomed out.

It is worth noting that the latest China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) has risen by 0.3% to 3128.45 points, rebounding faster than expected. According to industry insiders, China is the country with the largest export in the world, and the CCFI index can effectively reflect the current supply and demand of global trade.

Even though spot freight rates have continued to fall recently, major container shipping giants expect that the supply chain crisis will still be difficult to ease in the short term.

Maersk: Port terminal congestion will continue to delay the supply chain in the second half of the year;

Mediterranean Shipping: The company may continue to cancel flights in April due to delays in sailing times due to supply chain problems;

Hapag-Lloyd: Will launch express shipping services from China to Germany to solve supply chain problems.

Ocean Networking Shipping (ONE): The recent increase in global port congestion has caused about 10% of the world's container ships to be immobilized.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the global container fleet last year totaled 5,587 vessels, carrying 24.7 million containers. Based on this calculation, about 500 container ships are queuing to enter the port to load and unload currently.

On the other hand, the spot freight rate has little impact on the performance of the container shipping company, because the long-term freight rate has doubled this year, and various surcharges have been increasing. The source said that this year the price of the long-term contract in the United States has nearly doubled compared with last year. After the new long-term contract takes effect in May, it will directly double its revenue.

Industry analysts pointed out that the long-term contract is the most important indicator for judging the prosperity of the container shipping market. This year, both customers and container shipping companies are optimistic at the same time. This may be the driving force behind the growth of shipping companie's revenues and profits in the second quarter.