$1.5m China-built ship charge would bring return of US port congestion
The million-dollar-plus charges for Chinese-built vessels calling at US ports would unsurprisingly put inflationary pressure ...
By Mike Wackett
Volume shippers offered new long-term fixed-rate contracts by container lines are, nevertheless, still keen to keep a foot in the door of the spot market.
The extreme volatility of the spot market saw many shippers get their fingers badly burned over the past 18 months as rates were turbocharged by supply constraints and strong consumer demand.
But if port congestion eases and demand softens, short-term market rates could head south again quite quickly.
The advent of multi-year deals by carriers is a new ...
Comment on this article
Gary Ferrulli
January 07, 2022 at 4:55 pmWhat some shippers are hoping for is a return to contract rates being the highest that they pay, spot rates below those a good deal of the time. Not that long ago that spot rates were negative due to fuel surcharges being fixed. Considering the evolution of carriers managing capacity to market sizes going back nearly 3 years, the apparent acceptance of rates at levels never before thought of in the past 20 months, is that “hope” realistic?