These days, Mr. Yu in Ningbo is really annoyed. Mr. Yu is the head of a medical device export enterprise. In the first half of this year, the export demand for epidemic prevention materials was strong, and Mr. Yu was once "soft" when he received foreign trade orders. The wind and cloud suddenly changed. Since the second half of the year, the constant "rising and rising" sea freight has caused the company's logistics cost to remain high. As a result of signing a long-term contract, Mr. Yu will lose a bill for every shipment.

The high freight rate has also brought a serious impact on the international container shipping and logistics industry. The shortage of container equipment is becoming increasingly severe, the shipping schedule is delayed, the first cabin is hard to find, and the freight rate continues to rise, which makes the participants in the supply chain miserable.

Freight rates hit record highs.

When it comes to the current high freight rate, the heads of many freight forwarding companies in Ningbo are unanimous, "once in a hundred years" and "probably the highest ever".

According to the freight index (NCFI) of Ningbo Export Container on the Maritime Silk Road released by Ningbo Shipping Exchange, the freight rate of the US-East route once reached a record high of USD3000/FEU in 2008, but this record has been repeatedly broken this year, and now it has risen to USD5300/FEU. Before October, the freight rate of European routes was still relatively stable, but since November 15, the freight rate has suddenly risen sharply. At present, the freight rate of Ouji Port has exceeded USD6000/FEU.

At present, only the Southeast Asia route tends to be stable due to more container return trips, and the India-Pakistan route has narrowed its freight rate increase due to increased capacity investment.

The other routes are still in a serious imbalance between supply and demand. The NCFI index of Ningbo Shipping Exchange shows: "The freight rate of Ningbo-Europe and Mediterranean routes has risen sharply year-on-year, and the Singapore-Malaysia route has increased by nearly 300% from the beginning of October to the beginning of December."

As of the week of December 18th, the comprehensive index of container freight rate index (NCFI) of Ningbo Export on Maritime Silk Road closed at 2,144.2 points, up 143.0% year-on-year and rising for 10 weeks, setting a new record high since March 2012 for the sixth time, and the freight rates of almost all routes have reached the highest value in recent years.

In this case, even if the owner is willing to pay a higher fee to reserve the shipping space or accept the "diamond service" of the shipping company at a higher price, there is still no guarantee that his goods can be shipped.

Multiple factors have caused the freight rate to continue to rise.

Since the outbreak, due to the shortage of workers abroad, port congestion, the influence of national policies, and the limited domestic container production capacity, it is hard to find a box, which eventually leads to the current high freight rate.

To make matters worse, "the shortage of empty containers will continue. Since November, the market has mainly lacked high cabinets, and now the scope has expanded to flat cabinets. It is expected that there will be a shortage of even small cabinets during the Spring Festival." Li Wei, general manager of Shunyuan Hongtong Logistics Co., Ltd. said.

Under FOB terms, the main logistics costs such as sea freight are borne by foreign countries, and domestic shippers pay more attention to the stability of logistics. Therefore, some people think that foreign buyers are the most injured in the current surge in freight rates.

That was not the case. Because the freight rate of CIF spot market is much higher than that of FOB contract, shipping companies prefer to supply limited empty containers and shipping spaces to CIF market, which leads to a large number of FOB goods being converted into CIF goods.

Wang Weiyan, deputy general manager of Ningbo Ark International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. said: "It is conservatively estimated that the market share of FOB goods has dropped from 90% to 50%. Under such circumstances, some of the high sea freight will be passed on to domestic foreign trade enterprises."

Take multiple measures to ensure the stability of logistics supply chain

Many freight forwarding companies in Ningbo predict that the current situation will not be alleviated until the epidemic situation in Europe and America is effectively controlled and production activities return to normal.

However, the supply of transportation capacity is restricted by available container equipment, and it will still be in short supply. "Due to the impact of overseas epidemics, overseas container equipment cannot be transferred back in time, and the shortage of containers is expected to be more serious." Chu Zhong, general manager of Ningbo Branch of Dewei International Freight Forwarding (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. thinks.

What measures do shipping logistics enterprises take to deal with the impact of logistics supply chain and break through the trend?

From the root point of view, the "chaos" of the shipping market this year stems from the instability of the overseas supply chain. Ningbo freight forwarding enterprises, represented by Dasheng Logistics Co., Ltd., suggest that on the basis of steady export, we should continue to expand the business scale of Ningbo port's imported container market, promote the return of container equipment, and nip in the bud. "Try to adjust the use of the owner's own boxes and use heavy boxes to import some container equipment at the exit of empty boxes. Although this part of empty boxes is limited, it can also help a small number of shippers solve the shipping problem." Shipping observers said that relevant institutions, such as Ningbo Shipping Exchange, should closely monitor information such as route capacity, demand and freight rate in the future, explore, mine and analyze more useful data information, and develop related products and services to provide support for customers in the shipping market to avoid risks and predict market conditions.