Core reminder: Judging from the serious shortage of containers, even if shipping companies urgently purchase containers, the market will still need a production period of 2 to 3 months. In the short term, the market will still be in short supply. In the case of high shipping prices and limited routes, it is temporarily difficult to fill the gap in capacity.

"Last Monday, a large shipping company raised the shipping price for exports from China to a certain overseas country, but there was still a "bursting cabin". One of my customers also complained about this, and my answer to him was that it was normal. ."

Speaking of the recent boom in the shipping market, Wang Qingwei, the legal representative of Qingdao Ocean Customs Brokerage Co., Ltd., told the Daily Economic News reporter that some industries in China may be deeply affected by the epidemic this year, but for the logistics industry, the benefits are generally very good. Not bad.

The supply of containers exceeds demand

Wang Qingwei introduced that since March to April this year, the volume of China's seaborne cargo has been increasing steadily, especially since the third quarter, the increase has accelerated significantly, which has also led to the phenomenon of "difficult to find one cabin".

Wang Qingwei gave an example: "Last time a friend of mine asked if he could help him ship the cargo. He booked the space abroad. We mainly use the domestic booking as the basis. Priority will be given to the domestic bookings. If the ship is booked abroad, there will be space for you to board. If not, you will definitely dump your cargo. There is a phenomenon of dumped cargo among my customers."

The so-called dumping of cargo, the professional term is dumping the container, generally in the case of "explosive cabin", the shipping company will refuse to accept the excess cargo on board.

The export data in the third quarter of this year may also indirectly confirm the above phenomenon.

Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in the third quarter of this year, my country’s total import and export value reached 8.88 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.5% year-on-year, of which exports were 5 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.2%, and imports were 3.88 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.3%. The total value of imports and exports, total export value, and total import value in the third quarter all hit a quarterly record high.

With the rapid increase in the export volume of goods, a new "abnormal" situation has emerged in the industry: some goods export companies can book space for shipping companies, but the supply of containers is in short supply.

Liu Jun (pseudonym), the person in charge of an overseas logistics company in the Yangtze River Delta, has recently become very busy. His main job is to find containers for export companies. Liu Jun told the Daily Economic News reporter: "There is a prominent problem in shipping now-there is a lack of cabinets (containers). For example, after booking, there are spaces for loading goods, but there are no cabinets to load. Now almost every shipping company All lack cabinets."

Liu Jun introduced that according to the process of exporting goods, after the export company successfully booked the cabin with the shipping company, the shipping company will send a booking form to the export company, and the latter can receive the booking form according to the shipowner’s cut-off time. , Arrange a reasonable time to pick up the container at the designated place, and drag the container to the loading location for loading operations. But now that export companies get the booking form, they often can't lift the cabinet when they go to the dock. This is a serious problem.

"The biggest contradiction now is that you have a space but no cabinets. At present, the whole market, especially the Pearl River Delta region, is the most short of shipping cabinets. This is not the case of one or two shipping companies. All the cabinets are missing." Liu Jun said that such a sudden lack of cabinets has rarely been encountered before, and this time it did not happen for a long time. It only started in the past one or two weeks.

Shipping prices are rising

　　With the rapid increase in export freight volume and the severe shortage of containers, ocean shipping prices have also begun to rise all the way.

　　 Wang Qingwei told reporters that in previous years, the price of a shipping container was generally US$1,000 to US$2,000. In the first half of this year, it rose to US$2,000 to US$3,000. In the second half of the year, it has risen to US$3,000-4,000 (approximately RMB 20,000-27,000).

　　 Liu Jun also said that shipping prices have indeed risen a bit sharply now, and have doubled compared with last year. In the last week, the price of containers in some places has risen by 200 to 300 US dollars, an increase of almost 5% to 10%.

　　 Judging from the interviews with reporters, people in the industry generally believe that the increase in shipping prices in the next few months will continue.

"The price of export freight in the fourth quarter may still rise." Wang Qingwei said, judging from the changes in the foreign epidemic situation, another peak may occur in the fourth quarter of this year. There is no way to start work normally. Therefore, for Chinese export companies, consumer demand in overseas markets will not decrease, but may increase. Recently, customers have reported that they have begun to receive orders transferred from India and other countries. This situation may even intensify in the future.

"I know that some orders originally belonging to third countries have begun to be transferred to China. Many of my customers' shipments have increased significantly compared with the first half of the year." Liu Jun said, followed by Christmas, New Year's and other holidays With the advent of, the demand for goods in foreign markets will further increase. In the case of limited shipping capacity, transportation prices may continue to rise.

　　 Liu Jun added that judging from the serious shortage of containers, even if shipping companies urgently purchase containers, the market still needs a production period of 2 to 3 months. In the short term, the market will still be in short supply. In the case of high shipping prices and limited routes, it is temporarily difficult to fill the gap in capacity.

　　 The demand for shipping by sea has increased sharply, and there have been some reactions in the stock market. After May and June this year, the share prices of some leading listed shipping companies showed a clear upward trend.