Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 1 The Economic Information Daily published a comprehensive report by Zhou Wuying on the first day, "The price of the bottleneck in the global shipping industry remains high". The article is summarized as follows:
Since this year, the bottleneck problem of the international shipping industry has become prominent. Congestion incidents are common in the newspapers. Shipping prices have risen in turn and are at a high level. The negative impact on all parties has gradually emerged.
As early as March and April of this year, the Suez Canal jam incident triggered thinking about the global logistics supply chain. However, since then, cargo ships have been blocked, detained at the port, and supply delays have occurred frequently.
According to the report of the Southern California Maritime Exchange on August 28, a total of 72 container ships docked at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in one day, exceeding the previous record of 70; There were 44 container ships berthed at the anchorage, breaking the previous record of 40. The main reasons for this congestion are labor shortage, epidemic related interruptions and the surge in holiday purchases. California ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach account for about one-third of U.S. imports.
Data from Descartes Tatamin, an American research company, showed that the sea container traffic volume from Asia to the United States in July increased by 10.6% year on year, reaching 1718600 containers (calculated by 20 foot containers), higher than that of the previous year for 13 consecutive months, and hit a new record in July.
In Asia, Bona Senivasan S., president of Gokardas Export Company, one of India's largest garment exporters, said that the three soaring container prices and shortages caused shipping delays. Industry executives said that with the container shortage problem reaching its peak, the export of some products may decline in August. The surge in demand for consumer goods in Europe is also exacerbating the bottleneck problem of shipping.
The incidents of shipping congestion and detention reflect that due to the rising demand and epidemic control measures, the port function has declined, the efficiency has decreased, coupled with the increase in ship detention caused by typhoons, and the supply and demand of ships have become tense. Affected by this, the rate of almost all major trade routes has soared, and the shortage of dry bulk carriers has also tended to be long-term.
Supply delays and price increases have a significant impact on daily life. It is reported that McDonald's restaurants in Britain removed milk shakes and some bottled drinks from the menu, and Nanduo chicken chain stores temporarily closed 50 stores.
According to Time magazine, since more than 80% of the goods trade is transported by sea, the soaring freight is threatening the prices of various commodities, from toys, furniture and auto parts to coffee, sugar and anchovies, and exacerbating concerns about accelerating global inflation.
For some countries, poor marine logistics has a negative impact on exports. For shipping enterprises, with the increase of steel prices, shipbuilding costs are also rising, which may drag down the revenue of shipping enterprises that book ships at high prices.
UBS research report shows that port congestion is expected to last until 2022. Reports released by Citigroup and Economist Intelligence Unit show that these problems have deep roots and are unlikely to disappear soon.