General

The GRI from Asia to the east coast of South America is here!

Hapag-Lloyd announced on the 16th that 20' and 40' dry cargo and refrigerated containers (including 40' high containers) from East Asia to the east coast of South America will be subject to GRI. This GRI is effective from September 13, 2021.

The detailed information scope of the GRI levy is as follows:

Asia to the east coast of South America: USD 1,000/container

Asia to Suape, Brazil: USD 2000/container

After CMA CGM decided to stop all spot freight increases before February 1, Hapag-Lloyd was the second container carrier to announce a suspension of freight increases. Hapag-Lloyd’s Director of Public Relations Tim Seifert said: “The spot freight has already peaked, and we will not seek further increases in freight rates.”

He went on to add: "The point is that we are concerned about the extremely high FAK rate level transactions mainly from Asia, but in some non-Asian markets, prices have reached very high levels." Tim Seifert pointed out Hapag-Lloyd has been doing this for several weeks, and it is temporary. At the same time, he pointed out that he hopes that "the market will slowly begin to calm down."

It is also worth noting that, in addition to the focus of freight, the current problem is insufficient capacity and lack of space! The two shipping giants 2M suspended their flights during the Golden Week: the eve of the Golden Week, ushered in a peak wave of shipments. However, due to the global shortage of containers, port congestion, and previous typhoons, international shipping giants Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping, etc. will cancel the original schedule of the 39th week (the last week of September) and the 40th week (the first week of October) Asia and Europe The four voyages on the route are estimated to reduce the shipping capacity of this route by about 70,000 TEU. The starting ports include Shanghai, Ningbo, Dalian and other important mainland ports. It is even more difficult for companies to ship before the Golden Week!