Recently, freight rates in the international shipping container market have risen sharply. In response, Sun Wenjian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport and head of the Policy Research Office, responded at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on the 26th. With the release of new container production capacity in my country, empty container turnover has accelerated. According to major liner companies, The shortage of empty containers has been basically eased.
Statistics show that from January to August this year, my country's imports and exports of goods have increased by 23.7% over the same period in 2020, of which exports have increased by 23.2% over the same period in 2020. The continuous improvement of my country's foreign trade situation has promoted a substantial increase in the demand for international container transportation. The rebound of overseas epidemics has led to serious congestion in some overseas ports, poor international logistics supply chains, and a sharp drop in ship operation efficiency and empty container turnover.
Especially in April of this year, affected by incidents such as the Suez Canal blockage, the capacity of major ocean routes including China is still tight, the supply and demand of capacity are imbalanced, and global freight rates remain high. The Ministry of Transport attaches great importance to this and, in conjunction with the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other ministries and commissions, has taken active measures to coordinate the prevention and control of the epidemic and ensure smooth traffic.
Regarding the issue of capacity imbalance, Sun Wenjian pointed out that the Ministry of Transport actively guides international liner companies to increase the capacity and container supply of China's mainland export routes, and improve the efficiency of container transportation.
On the main routes of mainland China, from January to August this year, the number of cabins invested by major liner companies also began to increase significantly. Among them, the capacity of North American routes reached 9.11 million TEUs, an increase of 40.2% and 24.8 respectively over the same period in 2020 and 2019. %. The capacity of the Northwest Europe route was 5.67 million TEUs, an increase of 23.7% and 8% over the same period in 2020 and 2019.
In addition, the Ministry of Transport actively cooperates with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to coordinate my country's container manufacturers to increase their productivity and coordinate liner companies to speed up the return of empty containers. The current monthly production capacity has been increased from 200,000 TEUs in the past to 500,000 TEUs, the highest in history. With the release of new container production capacity in my country, empty container turnover has accelerated. According to major liner companies, the shortage of empty containers has been basically eased.
At present, the inventory of new containers in my country's major container manufacturers has exceeded 400,000 TEUs, and the supply of new containers is adequately guaranteed. Only a few liner companies may have a temporary shortage of a small amount of empty containers at certain ports due to the effects of delays in shipping schedules, weather, and epidemic prevention and control.
The Ministry of Transport encourages port and shipping companies and import and export companies to strengthen cooperation to overcome difficulties together, and encourages Chinese shippers and liner companies to actively negotiate long-term transportation contracts to provide a stable supply chain guarantee. Long-term contract customers are the “big heads” of container transportation, and many overseas cargo owners will sign long-term contracts to obtain transportation service guarantees at stable prices.
Sun Wenjian also cited a practical case. He said that a Chinese company signed a long-term contract with a related shipping group at the beginning of this year. Here, the Ministry of Transport encourages owners and shipping companies to sign long-term contracts, so that the interests of both parties can be protected, and at the same time, they can stabilize market prices."
Sun Wenjian said that in the next step, the Ministry of Transport will continue to work with the Ministry of Commerce and other ministries to implement measures to stabilize foreign trade to ensure the smooth flow of the international logistics supply chain.
