Transport Update 13th December

Asia → North America (Transpacific Eastbound)

Rates

• According to the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), rates from China/East Asia to the USA have increased. 
  • From Asia to the West Coast, rates have increased by 1% to $14,924 per 40ft.
  • Rates have increased by 3% to $17,195 per 40ft from Asia to the East Coast.
• Contractual rates for Asia-US West Coast shipments are between $5,000 and $6000 for a 40ft container.
• For the US East Coast, this is around $8,000 per 40ft container. 
• The higher spot market going into this season’s contract negotiations will likely influence higher longer-term rates for cargo owners.
  • Xeneta’s statistics show that in February, when the last contract negotiations began, average Asia-US spot rates were $3,456 on the US West Coast and $4,604 on the US East Coast for a 40ft container. These figures rose to $7,940 and $9,344 respectively in October as port congestion worsened.

Ports

• Retail imports at the U.S.’s major container ports are expected to end 2021 with both the largest volume and fastest growth on record.
  • Retail imports will have reached 26 million TEU at US ports, an increase of 18.3% over 2020.
  • This is the highest number recorded since the National Retail Federation began tracking imports in 2002. 

• The Port of Long Beach moved less cargo in November than it did a year ago. 
  • The port says it processed nearly 5% less cargo last month than it did in November 2020 as efforts continue to make room for imports. 
  • November’s throughput volumes came in at 745,488 TEU, a 4.9% decline compared to November 2020. 
  • Volumes last month fell across the board compared to November 2020.
    • Imports dropped 5.3% to 362,394 TEUs.
    • Exports decreased 6.4% to 109,821 TEUs.
    • Empty containers fell 3.6% to 273,274 TEUs.
  • The declines come even as dockworkers and terminal operators are on pace to process more than 9 million cargo containers by the end of 2021, surpassing the previous annual record by more than 900,000 TEU.
  • By the end of November, the Port of Long Beach has processed more than 8.6 million TEU, up over 18% from last year
• The Port of Long Beach have reported 34 container vessels at anchor waiting to enter the San Pedro Bay ports complex, down from more than 80 last month.
  • This may be due to the new queuing process that has ships waiting out in the Pacific instead of anchorages and loitering areas in the immediate vicinity of the San Pedro Bay ports.
  • The ‘Container Dwell Fee’ which was announced earlier this year has been postponed again and has helped to decline aging cargo in San Pedro Bay terminals. 
  • The latest number of backed up ships, both in the immediate vicinity of the ports and also outside the 150-mile exclusion zone, stood at 94 containerships as of December, just below the record of 96

Asia → Europe (Far East Westbound)

Rates

• Rates have increased by 1% to $14,498 per 40ft from Asia to North Europe according to FBX rates.
• Rates from Asia to the Mediterranean have increased by 3% to $13,424 per 40ft.  

Capacity

• Asian exporters ‘abandoned’ by Maersk are negotiating deals with rival carriers which is creating a fresh wave of ad hoc charters to North European ports for next month. 
  • Maersk’s announcement has impacted many smaller forwarders and NVOCCs as they will no longer be accepted for bookings after 1st January.  
  • Maersk reps have told shippers they are not interested in negotiating contracts for volumes below 100 containers a week and, instead, are recommending smaller customers access the carrier’s ‘Maersk Spot’ product to make bookings. 
  • The Asia-Europe market, disrupted by the de facto withdrawal of Maersk, has evolved into ‘regular’ ad hoc sailings from Asia with operators confident enough to advertise their open ships well in advance.
  • High rates, strong demand and dearth of open cellular tonnage has been advantageous for multipurpose vessels (MPVs) as they are receiving container parcel offers more regularly. 
  • Although nowhere near the massive hikes seen in the container sector, average daily hire rates for MPVs have doubled in the past 18 months, to some $10,500 a day.

Equipment

• See below

Ports

• Port congestion prompts carriers to drop a quarter of all North European calls from the Far-East – Europe deep sea loops. 
  • The eighteen big Far East – North Europe loops operated by the three mega alliances have skipped a total of 383 port calls in North Europe over the past five months due to severe port congestion.
  • A survey by Alphaliner revealed that Felixstowe was worst hit by the temporary schedule changes and ad hoc adjustments.
  • Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg, also saw a reduction of between 20.2% to 30.3% of planned calls.
• The significant drop in Far East calls in the third quarter of this year did not heavily impact container throughput at Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg, in the period from January to September.
  • Rotterdam achieved container growth of 7.8% in the first nine months of the year to reach 11.5 Mteu, despite a 25.6% drop in Far East calls in the July – November survey. 
• COSCO expects to increase the proportion of its contract business on the fronthaul Asia-Europe route above 45% in 2022.
  • The carrier also plans to significantly increase its two- and three-year contracts with customers.

Europe→ USA (Transatlantic Westbound)

Rates

• • FBX rates have decreased by 3% to $7,219 from North Europe to the USA East Coast. 

Air