The EU has stated that it refuses to take action on the overheated container shipping market; weak infrastructure is also one of the big challenges for the container market!
Jim
Sunny Worldwide Logistics
2021-06-25 18:39:03
At present, the international container liner market is facing serious congestion in the supply chain, a series of problems such as hard to find one cabin, hard to find one container, and rising freight rates. Shippers and shippers also hope that regulators can come out to intervene in shipping companies... Previously, Souhang.com reported that because exporters could not order cabinets, US regulators drafted legislation that would require shipping companies to accept bookings for all US export containers; South Korea’s antitrust agency imposed on 23 liner companies for alleged collusion to manipulate freight rates. Fines; China’s Ministry of Communications also responded: Coordinating international liner companies to increase the capacity of China’s export routes and the supply of containers, investigating illegal charges... However, the European Commission stated that it refused to take action on the overheated shipping market. Recently, Magda Kopczynska, director of the European Commission’s maritime department, said, “From the perspective of the European Commission, we are studying the current situation, but I really don’t think we should make a policy decision in a hurry to change everything that has been working well. "
With this statement, she lowered the hopes of many maritime participants. Some organizations dominated by shippers had hoped that the European Commission would intervene in shipping companies in the face of soaring transportation, industry delays, and irregular supply chains. Some organizations in the logistics industry claim that increasingly larger ships are putting pressure on those who must serve them. Kopczynska made this statement at a webinar hosted by two members of the European Parliament, Jutta Paulus, Germany, and Vera Tax, the Netherlands. ▍MSC CEO: Weak infrastructure is the biggest challenge in the container market The congestion challenge and the over-loading of terminals cannot be entirely attributed to the increase in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Søren Toft, CEO of Mediterranean Shipping MSC, pointed out that the container industry has been lagging behind in the development of infrastructure, which is also a major challenge in the container market. "No one in the industry expected that the pandemic would cause the container market to heat up. Even so, the fact that the shipping industry's infrastructure has been lagging behind has also triggered some of the challenges that industry players are currently facing." Søren Toft at the World Ports Conference on Wednesday ( During the World Ports Conference), we talked about the bottlenecks encountered this year, the congestion of ports and terminals, and the assessment of the record high freight rates.
"No one thought the market would become like this. But to be fair, infrastructure construction has been lagging behind and there is no ready-made solution. But this is a pity, because the business is now at the highest level." Søren Toft called the past nine months "very difficult", which has also led MSC to make the necessary investments, such as expanding its fleet by adding several new ships and containers, and investing in new services. "The root of the problem was that the demand had dropped sharply before and we had to withdraw the ship. Then, demand soared again beyond anyone's imagination. Today, due to Covid-19 restrictions and distance requirements, the port has been short of manpower for a long time, and we are still affected. "Toft said.
At present, the time pressure of major container ports in the world is very high. A week ago, Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said that due to market chaos, the peak season will be prolonged. He said the current situation may cause bottlenecks and delays, and may make the already high freight rates even higher when the goods are prepared early on Christmas. "Almost all ships are now fully loaded, so only when the congestion is relieved, the carrying capacity of the line will increase and the speed will slow down. If the demand is still picking up during the peak season, it may mean that the peak season will be extended a bit." Habben Jansen said. According to Habben Jansen, the current demand is so huge that the market has no prospect of returning to normal.
