The container ship market swept away the haze and the freight rate doubled.

As Europe and the United States and other places continue to push the economic restart, the container ship market has swept away the haze, freight rates doubled, freight forwarding companies have canceled the original schedule reduction plan.

Since the beginning of this year, novel Coronavirus epidemic has prompted the company to halve its capacity and keep the market rate at a certain level.Despite the resurgence of the epidemic in Europe and the United States, thanks to the economic restart plan, the volume of goods in the market is better than expected, the average loading rate of container ships exceeds 95%, and freight rates continue to rise.

In the Western United States, rates have more than doubled in the past five months, up almost every month.The average freight rate per FEU in the WESTERN United States was around $1500 in March, rising to $1700 at the end of April, over $2000 in May, over $2700 in mid-June, over $3000 at the end of July, and further increased to $3144 on August 7, showing a more than multiple increase compared with the same period last year.

In the context of increasing market freight rates, container shipping companies have cancelled shift reduction plans one after another, repatriated idle ships or chartered ships for operation, and container ship rents have continued to rise.In June this year, Taiwan Shipping Company temporarily leased 4 8500TEU container ships for installation of desulphurization equipment in the plant. The rental period is three months and the daily rental is US $10,000.Since then, the daily rates for similar vessels chartered by European shipping lines have risen to $17,000 and are now above $20,000 for nine - to 12-month periods.The rent for a 6000TEU container ship in June was only $6,500, and the daily rent for the current six-month period has reached $19,000 to $21,000.

On the other hand, the epidemic has driven a surge in online shopping, which has boosted demand for small container ship Express services.After Maisen, star Line, CMA CMA and CosCO Shipping Group have successively launched Sino-Us express routes. Six routes have been opened up, four of which are from Shanghai to Los Angeles, one from Yantian to Los Angeles and one each from Ningbo to Los Angeles.

In early August, CosCO's Ningbo-Los Angeles Express service was cut from 13 days to 11, allowing shippers to pick up goods alongside ships within 48 hours of their arrival, compared with five to six days for merchant shipping.Express freight rates are about $1, 000 per FEU higher than regular ship rates, so rates can reach more than $4, 000 per FEU.