Zencargo Market Update: 13th June

China

Ocean

• Shanghai will go into partial lockdown this week as six new cases were discovered in the city.
  • Restrictions have been imposed on seven districts with millions of people scheduled for testing.
  • The districts to go into lockdown include Minhang, Pudong, Huangpo, Jiang’an, Xuhui, Hongkou and Baoshan.
  • Shanghai is home to the world’s largest container port. The lockdowns earlier this year have already disrupted global supply chains and impacted the operations of many businesses.
• Equipment table

Air

Central China to USA and Europe

• Capacity has eased compared to last week and the rate is stable from SHA Airport to Europe.
• From SHA to the USA, the market is not as hot and rates should be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
  • This applies particularly to San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport. 
• This week, rates from NGB Airport to the USA and Europe have decreased.
  • Final rates depend on a case-by-case basis. 

North China to USA and Europe

• From TSN to Europe, space will need to be reserved in advance. The air market is stable from TSN to USA and rates are the same as last week. 
  • Rates are currently stable. Terminal operations will be longer before flight departure so please also take this additional lead time into consideration due to COVID-19 restrictions. 
  • Businesses are advised to book space a week in advance and to check shipments on a case-by-case basis. 
• Rates remain the same level as last week from PEK to Europe and the USA.
  • Space is not as tight compared to last week.
  • Covid controls are still in place and the airport terminal handling process will need longer operational lead times. 
  • This has limited trucking services due to restrictions that have been put in place to prevent the spread. 
• Please work with your freight forwarding partners to reconfirm rates and space 4 to 5 days in advance. 

South China to USA and Europe

• From CAN to Europe and the USA, the market is calm. 
  • Shipments need to be checked with carriers on a case-by case basis. 
• From SZX Airport, the rate is stable to the US but has decreased to Europe. 
• From XMN Airport, rates have decreased this week.
  • All shipments need to be checked on a case-by-case basis.

South Korea

• Truckers strike in South Korea to protest the sharp surge in fuel costs. 
  • This has disrupted production, slowed activity at ports, posing risks to an already strained supply chain.
  • 7,200 members (30%) of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union were on strike. 
  • South Korean steelmaker POSCO announced it had been unable to ship 35,000 tonnes of steel products from two plants daily since the strikes began. 
  • Busan Port Authority has put an emergency response team in place and has prepared extra storage space outside of the port.

USA

Ocean

• Ports in the USA still report exceptionally strong throughputs for May.
  • The Port of Long Beach has reported a total throughput of 890,989 TEUs.
    • Imports totalled to 436,977 TEUs, the second highest record since May 2021. 
  • On the East Coast, Charleston handled 255,104 TEUs in May, an increase of 11% compared to the same period last year.
  • The National Retail Federal (NRF) expects a rise of 2% in imports during June to October compared to the same time last year. 
• Container ships waiting off US Coastlines have improved compared to the start of last year.
  • There were 92 container ships waiting off US coastlines last Friday according to MarineTraffic and the Marine Exchange.
  • This was down from 150 in January to February. 
  • 25 containerships are waiting off the Port of Savannah.
  • 20 vessels are waiting off the Ports of LA and Long Beach.
  • 18 containerships are waiting off the Port of Houston. 
  • Ports are preparing for a busy summer at the ports as they are readying for the traditional summertime surge to coincide with China’s lifting of restrictions which will see an influx of imports flow into US ports. 

Air

• Nashville International Airport (BNA) has announced plans for a new airfreight building.
  • The expansion plan ‘New Horizons’ is expected to cost $1.4bn and will be phased in over the next six years.
  • A new air freight facility will be built to support cargo requirements of airlines. 
  • BNA has been growing its air cargo capacity in recent years and even Amazon Air launched operations at the airports in September 2021.

Benelux

Ocean

• The 2M Alliance has added a discharge call at Zeebrugge, Belgium, to its Shogun/AE1 and Lion/AE6 Asia to North Europe service. 
  • As port congestion grows in North Europe, adding this call will provide customers with the option to discharge their cargo at a less congested port.
  • It will also reduce the pressure on its networks by avoiding disrupted operations at European ports.

United Kingdom

Ocean

• In Germany, dockworkers staged a strike at Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Wilhelmshaven and Bremen.

• • There has not been a port strike in Germany for three decades and up to three quarters of port employees are unionised. 
  • The union demands compensation for inflation as they have demanded a 14% increase over one year while their employers are offering seven percent over two years.
  • The strikes at Hamburg have come at a difficult time for ports as Hamburg’s container quays were up to 80-90% yard utilisation which is well above optimum level for maximum terminal efficiency.
  • As other North European ports, such as Rotterdam and Antwerp, are suffering from congestion issues, ocean carriers will have fewer options to overland Hamburg imports at other ports and will have to wait with their vessels.

Road/Rail

• Rail strikes in the UK threaten to disrupt supply chains.
  • The RMT union has announced that their workers are walking out on the 21st, 23rd and 25th June. Services on days when workers are not on strike may also be disrupted. 
  • This move from the union is a protest against Network Rail and train operating companies who have frozen staff pay and are planning to cut thousands of jobs. 
  • There have been concerns that this may affect petrol and diesel supplies and the delivery of goods to shops. 
  • Network Rail have planned to put contingency plans in place and work with the freight industry to keep essential goods moving.
• The European road freight market is projected to grow by 4.9% in 2022. 
  • All European markets have forecasted to recover from the pandemic in 2022, however some markets have slower recoveries, such as Spain. 
  • On the whole, the market is expected to expand by 4.9% to reach €390,754 million.
• Italian railway company to invest €160 billion in infrastructure and €190 billion in overland transport.
  • Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) aims to invest in new equipment, terminals and tracks to double the portion of freight traffic by rail in the next ten years.
  • This will result in 16,800km of railway lines, 1670 tunnels, 23000 bridges and viaducts and 2200 stations on the railway network.

European Bank Holidays

We anticipate a shortage of availability and the occurrence of delays around the bank holiday periods. Plan ahead and allow extra time for your products to be delivered.

June 12th – RO, RU

June 13th – GR, RO, RU, UA

June 16th – AT, DE, FL, HR, PT, PL

June 22nd – HR

June 23rd – EE, LU, LV

June 24th – EE, LT, LV

June 25th – FI, HR, SE, SI

June 28th – UA

June 29th – CH

July 3rd – BY

July 5th – CZ, SK

July 6th – CZ, LT

July 10th – TR

July 11th – TR

July 12th – Northern Ireland, TR

July 13th – ME, TR

July 14th – FR, ME

July 21st – BE

*Not in all regions