The seller has goods but cannot ship them! Even if you pay $3000 more, you may still not be able to get a container

Recently, almost all foreign trade people are facing the problem of "it's hard to get a box", and CCTV has also made a special report on this problem.

According to CCTV reports, since the third quarter of last year , many domestic ports have been facing a shortage of containers . Even with a price increase of nearly 10 times, it is still difficult to get a container. What is even more infuriating is that some unscrupulous scalpers took the opportunity to raise prices, resulting in some routes where it is possible not to get a container even if the price increased by US$3,000. With the big sale approaching, merchants are facing the dilemma of having goods but not being able to ship them .

The anxiety of enterprises has led to a continuous increase in the price of containers. The price of a 20-foot small container was US$1,600 in the first half of 2020, but now it has risen to a maximum of US$3,600. The price of a popular 40-foot container has also risen to US$5,950, doubling the price and setting a record high.

While China is "desperate for containers", the situation abroad is quite different. According to reports, since the second half of 2020, there has been a serious backlog of empty containers at the Port of Auckland in New Zealand . At most, nearly 6,000 empty containers were stranded in Auckland . In order to move these empty containers, port staff have successively found five new yards .

In addition, California, the United States, the Port of Felixstowe in the United Kingdom , and various ports in Australia are also facing the dilemma of empty container stacking. Data shows that there are 10,000-15,000 stranded containers in California, the United States; the containers at the Port of Felixstowe in the United Kingdom have spread from the port to the surrounding suburbs ; and the number of empty containers in various ports in Australia exceeds 50,000 . At present, the empty container stockpiles of some important international ports are three times the normal level.

It is reported that this wave of price increases in the shipping industry is affected by many factors , including the severe overseas epidemic and the blockage of the Suez Canal . Because the epidemic abroad is serious, but China has effectively controlled the epidemic, China's manufacturing industry bears an important responsibility in the global industrial chain. Data shows that in the first four months of this year, the total value of China's trade imports and exports increased by 28.5% over the same period in 2020 and 21.8% over the same period in 2019.

In addition, the strong growth in foreign import demand under the epidemic has led to a significant increase in loading and unloading volume, but foreign countries are facing a serious shortage of manpower. According to reports, there are sometimes more than 10 container ships waiting to enter the port of Auckland, New Zealand to load and unload goods, with an average delay of 8 to 10 days; at least 7 of the 10 busiest ports in the United States often face congestion; ships in major ports in Southeast Asia, Europe and other countries also wait for more than a week to berth.

The global shipping market is not optimistic, but currently 90% of world trade is transported by sea. If the situation continues to deteriorate, it will have a devastating impact on the global economic recovery.

Mai Boliang , Chairman and CEO of CIMC, said: We have increased the monthly container supply to more than 400,000. Moreover, major ports are also actively striving for the return of empty shipping containers. After the ships dock, these empty containers will be unloaded first and sent to the whole country. In addition, Kang Shuchun, President of the International Freight Forwarding Branch of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, also said that they will try their best to transfer empty containers from overseas back to China; at the same time, the China-Europe Express can also bear some of the logistics pressure.

Despite this, these measures are still a drop in the bucket in the face of huge demand for shipping. The problem of difficulty in finding a "box" in China may not be alleviated until the second half of the year, because with the popularization of vaccines and the full control of the entire epidemic, production and transportation will be able to return to a relatively stable level.

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