Auto & Transportation

Affected by the epidemic and the Suez Canal ship jam, since last year, the global shipping industry has continued to face a situation where it is difficult to find a container. The comprehensive container freight index has reached historical highs and has reached 2,216.63 points, which is the third or fourth year before the epidemic. Times.

The global shipping industry "two worlds of ice and fire"

Nowadays, the global shipping industry can be described as "two heavens of ice and fire." The epidemic situation in many overseas countries is severe, labor shortages, and port containers are piled up like a mountain; major ports in Asia are often troubled by "lack of containers" and "less containers", and container prices are soaring. Shipping routes have risen nearly 10 times, and they are still "hard to find in a box."

Unlike domestic containers, which are hard to find, there is a serious backlog of empty containers at the Port of Auckland in New Zealand. Since the second half of 2020, in order to store those empty containers that cannot be shipped, they have found five new storage yards.

In addition, data shows that between 10,000 and 15,000 containers are stranded in California, the United Kingdom; while in the Port of Phillips in the United Kingdom, containers have spread from the port to the surrounding suburbs; the number of empty containers in Australia’s ports has exceeded 5 Ten thousand.

At present, the stock of empty containers in some important international ports is three times the normal level.

Causes of the supply pressure of the empty tank

There are several obvious reasons:

The largest inventory rebuilding operation in the history of the U.S. economy;

COVID-19 has caused many containers to pile up and shelved in ports;

Another reason is that the Chinese factory that manufactures containers was temporarily closed from April to June 2020 due to the outbreak of the epidemic. Generally speaking, 3.5 million to 4 million new 20TEU containers enter the logistics system every year, and the loss of the factory closure in the first quarter is 1 million TEU.

It is reported that the current global container production capacity of 20TEU is estimated to be 50 million, which means a gap of 2%. Coupled with the aforementioned 10% additional demand, this represents a 12% gap in the supply of containers.

DPWorld said that the current problem is very serious and will cause a collapse effect at any time.

A box is hard to find, and the mysterious organization "empty scalper" is derived

"Friend, you want to cut an empty box? 1000 one."

The word "scalper" must be familiar to everyone. Whether it is a train ticket for the Spring Festival transport or a concert ticket, it can be said that where there is demand, there are scalpers. The "empty box scalper" is a person who takes advantage of the cargo owner's desire for boxes to obtain empty boxes through illegal means and sell them at high prices.

Where did the scalper's box come from? One situation is to submit empty containers from the shipping company by falsely reporting the bill of lading, and then resell them; the other situation is to "hands and feet" on the empty container reservation system inside the terminal to "hide" the empty containers. The reason why the scalpers have "magical powers" is that a strong "network of relationships" must be woven behind the shipping companies and wharves.

According to many media reports, some scalpers took the opportunity to sit on the ground and raise prices, and some routes may not be able to grab a container with an increase of US$3,000.

Nowadays, in addition to the government's introduction of relevant policies to increase shipping capacity and ensure the return of empty containers, shipping companies have also made relevant efforts. For example, Tradewind Shipping orders prohibit employees from interfering with the flow of empty containers. COSCO SHIPPING stipulates that the destination selected when booking is not allowed to be changed midway, so as to prevent scalpers from "defrauding" empty containers through false manifests.

Under such circumstances, what is most needed at present is to further strengthen the overall management of containers and promote the speedy transportation of containers back to China. Only in this way can the problems of China's ocean shipping be further alleviated.

For cargo owners, this kind of behavior that breaks market rules should be boycotted. Once this behavior is acquiesced, it will inevitably encourage more and more people to take risks for their own benefit.

The current prosperity of the shipping industry reflects the shortcomings in the industry. What we must do is not to acquiesce and condone. After all, after the gunshots, there is no winner.