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Why is the freight so high when the global demand is not high? What caused it?

Time:2021-08-11 Publisher:Kevin Num:3856

As we all know, some time ago, the US government issued some policies to stimulate import demand, which has been increasing.

However, this has not affected the global import and export demand. According to relevant data, the global demand has only increased by less than 5%.

Recently, Maersk, a shipping company, released its latest quarterly performance report. 

The report shows that the demand for container shipping so far this year has increased by only 3% compared with the same period last year.

However, the increase in freight is surprising. Compared with the same period last year, freight has increased by $1200 / feu, an increase of 60%.

Maritime staff said: "in the first half of last year, there was no shortage of transport capacity, container shortage and port congestion."

"Therefore, the growth of freight has little to do with the growth of global demand for goods. 

The main problem is the lack of transport capacity caused by port congestion and container shortage." He added.

According to media reports, most ships are now trapped in the port due to port congestion and cannot return. This makes the current transport capacity seriously insufficient. It needs more ships to transport the same amount of goods than before.

The head of Maersk said that now their ship capacity has decreased a lot due to port congestion.

"Our fleet capacity has increased by 2% over last year, but our transportation volume has decreased by 3%. The container turnover rate has slowed down, and basically more 20 foot standard containers (TEUs) are needed to transport the original volume of goods per 40 foot container (feu). " He added

According to the analysis of some experts, the lack of transport capacity this year is mainly caused by port congestion. 

There are many factors leading to congestion, such as the blockage of the Suez Canal earlier this year and the closure of ports caused by the epidemic.

In addition to the impact of the environment, there are also some human factors, such as ship anchoring. 

Due to the shortage of ships, it is impossible to transfer goods through new ships, which has a great impact.

Jensen, the head of a maritime organization, believes that the current situation is only temporary. 

If the port congestion can be alleviated, the global transport capacity will be restored, and the freight will fall back to the normal level.

At the same time, he also said that if the above objectives can be achieved, the freight rate is expected to fall, but the decline may not be too large, at least it is difficult to return to the pre epidemic level

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