At the junction of the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River in winter, along the Chuan-Nian Road at the Luojing Port of Shanghai Port, most of the trucks carrying cargo are neatly parked on the left and right sides, and are about several hundred meters long. Some drivers have been waiting here for two days. Wait until the arrival and unloading instructions of the terminal.
In the past few days, CBN 1℃ reporters have visited the docks in the Yangtze River Delta and the manufacturing bases in the Pearl River Delta to investigate and found that the global shipping tension is still continuing, and the domestic transportation capacity tension has not yet eased.
Based on these conditions, freight prices continue to rise, and at the same time, shipping companies continue to increase their prices and charge indiscriminately. Freight forwarders (commonly known as "freight forwarders") companies fish in troubled waters and "guarantee" additional recovery costs for boarding.
Faced with the ever-increasing cost of outbound transportation, some foreign trade companies have to cancel shipping orders, and some even withdraw from the foreign trade industry.
Port congestion continues
Luojing Port, located on the south bank of the "Golden Waterway" at the mouth of the Yangtze River, is a modern professional terminal in the Shanghai port system that mainly handles foreign trade import and export of general cargo, supplemented by international containers and warehousing logistics.
After the busy cargo operation in the second half of 2020, in January 2021, the busy scene here continues.
On the afternoon of the 18th, 1℃ reporters walked through a large semi-trailer line of hundreds of meters before finally arriving at the port's cargo channel.
Master Gao, the driver in pajamas, poked his head out of the window of the driver's cab, and "too much bitterness" to the reporter.
It turned out that on January 16, he set off from Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province with a mixer truck and arrived at Luojing Port. According to the plan, he had to enter the port and unload the cargo on the ship. However, he waited for two days and still did not receive instructions. Food and lodging are in the cab, and because of the long-term occupation of the road, they have to fight the traffic police."
"The mixer truck was ready to be shipped to Nigeria ports, but the freighter was delayed due to the epidemic and was unable to dock." Master Gao told 1℃ reporter.
"Now that the overseas epidemic continues, and the traditional Chinese New Year is approaching, overseas shippers have been urging domestic companies to ship goods. They are worried that after a period of time, Chinese factories will be holidaying and shipments will be more difficult. Many foreign trade manufacturers are also worried that trailer freight prices will increase or no Cars can be called, so no matter when the ship schedule can be docked, I now hope that the goods will be delivered to the port first." A representative of a Shanghai freight forwarding company said in an interview with a 1℃ reporter.
Master Gao is also far from alone waiting for unloading.
The 1℃ reporter saw on the spot that the left and right sides of the Chuan-Nian Highway, which is not spacious, were occupied by most semi-trailers, and only the middle lane was left for trucks to travel.
In addition to the roar of cars, there are also nearby residents who ride small battery carts and sell lunch boxes and food.
"The situation where large trucks lined up to enter the terminal to unload has been going on for several days." Nearby residents said.
The situation in Luojing Port where trailers piled up and lined up to enter the port is mainly manifested in many aspects, one of which is the delay of cargo ships to enter the port.
"The liner that will be carrying cargo has not yet landed or will arrive at the port a few days later, and some trailers have arrived early." The relevant authority at Luojing Port confirmed to the 1℃ reporter.
"The shipping schedule is inseparable from the turnover arrangement of most container semi-trailers, and a mess will lead to total chaos. Unstable shipping schedules will lead to unstable port opening plans." said Zhao, a freight forwarder with 20 years of experience in Shanghai.
"Under normal circumstances, after a liner arrives at Tianjin Port, it waits for about 10 days at the anchorage for berthing and loading. If the loading process is slow, there will be delays and delays in arriving at Luojing Port. But in Luojing. The shipper who stocked the goods at the port still delivered the goods to the dock as planned, but the liner did not arrive at the shore for a long time. This led to a vicious circle." Zhao introduced.
The reporter also found that the current uneven shipping schedule has also led to port pressure, which is also a major reason why large trailers cannot enter the market in time.
Port pressure means that when containers are transshipped at a transit port, there is a lot of cargo in the port, or the second-way ship cannot arrive in time, causing the goods to stay in the transit port for a long time.
"There is indeed a phenomenon of objective pressure on the port, and the venue is relatively tight." A related person in Luojing Port told the 1℃ reporter that the company is trying its best to solve this problem. The port area is still relatively abundant. Sometimes imported goods and The excessive concentration of export goods has caused a shortage of yard space in the port area, especially when the Spring Festival is approaching. This situation is more prominent.
"The situation has improved a bit in the past few days, and the number of large trailers on the side of the road has been relatively reduced." On January 19, the above-mentioned Luojing Port related person told the 1℃ reporter that the company has been monitoring the flow of most of the trailers entering the venue and trying to solve this problem. One problem is to improve the efficiency of loading and unloading at the terminal, and to transport the goods to the ship as soon as possible to free up part of the space; on the other hand, let the customer’s large trailer enter the site and unload the cargo as soon as possible, so that the driver will leave early.
In addition, some imported goods are stored in warehouses.
"We will contact the cargo owners and ask them to pick up the goods as soon as possible, and then further release part of the site." The above-mentioned Luojing Port source said.
Shipping connects the world. Since the New Year, overseas epidemics have become urgent, and port congestion in many countries has become the norm.
According to many freight forwarders, especially in countries such as Nigeria, the United States, and the United Kingdom, the port situation is more severe and it is not optimistic.
Manuel Marin, who is selling helmet business in Spain, told 1℃ reporter that the shipping speed of the local port was slow, and the volume of container transportation dropped by 10%. The government was focusing on fighting the epidemic.
The Port of Los Angeles, a trade channel connecting the U.S. and Asia, also experienced congestion.
Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, recently stated that the port’s inefficiency in truck consignment due to the surge in container numbers in 2020 has been reported. “Currently, loading and unloading trucks handle approximately three-quarters of all import and export containers that are transported through the port.”
Seroka announced a new truck business hours and dual transaction incentive program.
Beginning in February, the program will provide financial incentives to terminal operators who move container cargo faster and more efficiently on the terminal.
Sky-high freight rates that deter companies
"The price of containers to Europe now is almost 16,000 US dollars. This is a sky-high price. I have been in business for more than 20 years and have never encountered such a high price." On January 15, a 1℃ reporter came to Shanghai freight forwarding company. As soon as a building on Wuhua Road, Hongkou District, was crowded together, the senior freight forwarding manager Lao Zhao shook his head and said as soon as it was seated.
According to data from the Baltic Daily Freight Index (FBX), on January 15, the spot price from China to Northern Europe reached US$7,701 per TEU, an increase of 268% compared to the price of US$2095 in the same period last year.
In addition, FBX data shows that the global container price rose from US$2,652 on December 4, 2020 to US$3,448 on January 1, 2020, and then to US$4,019 on January 15th half a month later.
However, the actual transaction data in the market may be much higher than the public index.
"Just like when house prices soared in the past, it was said that house prices in a certain area rose to 90,000 yuan per square meter, but it was often difficult to buy 90,000 yuan in the market. The Baltic Shipping Index is the same. Now it seems to be more than 7,700 US dollars. In the hands of shipping companies, as well as the big forwarders who have space, such a price is not available (for space)." Lao Zhao said.
In addition to European routes, African routes also soared.
Zhu Yayan, a senior freight forwarder in Shanghai, told reporters at 1℃ that she had just transported 4 high containers to Algeria, Africa. The shipping cost was US$12,000/container. “Other expenses, such as warehouse trailers, etc., are not included.”
On December 30, 2020, the official official account of the China International Freight Forwarders Association issued the "Request for a Strong Call for Investigation and Punishment of Liner Companies' Arbitrary Price Increases and Charges" (hereinafter referred to as "Requests"), stating that the epidemic has brought about the global economy After a heavy blow, the global supply chain logistics was once in chaos. Among them, the irregular operation behavior of liner companies' indiscriminate price increases and charges was particularly prominent, which has seriously affected and disrupted the normal order of China's foreign trade and international logistics markets.
The "Request for Instructions" stated that the liner companies suddenly increased their freight rates significantly, and the rate of increase was much higher than the normal market level. "Foreign trade companies book space with liner companies through international freight forwarders. In addition to paying high ocean freight, they also There are more than a dozen additional fees to pay for the evening bill of RMB200/ticket, VGM evening report fee of RMB450/carton, etc., and none of the above fees has been reported to the transportation authority and the price is announced."
According to a 1℃ reporter survey, in the current chaotic shipping market, many shipping companies will also impose fuel surcharges and port congestion surcharges.
In addition, there have been cases of temporary price increases after cargo bookings.
The above-mentioned "Request for Instructions" means that after the cargo has been confirmed and booked, individual liner companies temporarily proposed an increase of USD350/20-foot container. If they do not accept it, they will not be able to ship it. "Foreign trade companies have no choice but to accept it and increase foreign trade. The burden of enterprises and international freight forwarders."
But after the fare increase, it is not guaranteed to be able to board the ship.
1℃ reporter learned that general shipping companies will allocate their own space to several freight forwarding companies, and they will sell space. On average, one company will get dozens of them. This batch of freight forwarders is the "bookmaker".
"Like air tickets, there will be a batch of additional seats. For example, there are only 500 seats, but 600 seats are sold. Unexpectedly, there are many customers now. There is a demand for 580 seats. Then there will be 80 seats. A space will be “dumped”.” Lao Zhao said, at this time, whoever dumped it must “rely on the relationship”. At this time, the shipper will use various tricks, whether it is to directly charge the freight forwarder. , It is still important to look at the strength of foreign trade companies and to "manage" with the usual relationship.
According to a 1℃ reporter survey, the sky-high sea freight is eroding the profits of foreign trade companies and downstream customers, and it continues to undermine their confidence in production.
At present, foreign trade companies whose production capacity has long been saturated are still hesitating to expand their production capacity.
"We have recently had difficulty shipping, lack of boxes and space, and the price is still too high. Now the freight has increased four times, and the price of a whole cabinet is tens of thousands of dollars." Zheng Bo, who is engaged in the export of smart helmets in Shenzhen, told 1℃ reporter .
"A whole cabinet contains 3,000 helmets, which means that a helmet costs 3 US dollars for shipping." Zheng Bo calculated an account. If the company's helmet sells for 50 US dollars in Europe, the shipping costs account for about 6% of the price.
Zheng Bo adopts the FOB model and does not need to spend money on freight, but he believes this will also push up the cost of sales for overseas shippers.
The 1℃ reporter found a harsh reality in the investigation: In the face of soaring costs and unpredictable markets, some companies directly cancelled bookings for space and no longer engage in foreign trade.
"We have received messages from many customers that they are unwilling to ship, mainly because the freight cost is too high, and everyone can't afford it." Lao Zhao said, "My customers are all domestic small, medium and micro enterprises. The shipping situation in China has severely eroded their profits."
Author: Wu Mian strong