Affected by factors such as the continued strong demand for international container transportation and the obstruction of the logistics supply chain caused by the global spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, last year, the supply and demand of the international container shipping market was unbalanced, the capacity of container ships was tight, and the prices of various links in the maritime logistics supply chain were soaring. What will be the trend of the international container shipping market in the future? Will prices continue to “go up like crazy”?

Supply and demand imbalance is more difficult to alleviate.

In terms of the supply of empty containers, my country’s export heavy containers on international routes are generally larger than imported heavy containers. In addition, my country took the lead in controlling the epidemic and taking the lead in resuming work and production. A large amount of demand for goods began to shift to China, and the demand for empty containers increased significantly. At the same time, the overseas circulation of containers is not smooth, and the return of empty containers by sea has slowed down, resulting in a shortage of empty containers.

However, my country is the largest country in the manufacture of shipping containers. Since the second half of 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments have been actively coordinating Chinese container-making enterprises to expand container output, and the Ministry of Transport has actively coordinated and instructed liner companies to increase the return of empty containers from overseas ports. At present, the shortage of empty containers in my country’s ports has been basically resolved, and the supply of new containers is adequately guaranteed, which has weakened the impact on freight rates.

At the same time, the gap in shipping capacity is not so easy to fill. According to data from Alphaliner, an international shipping consultancy, by the end of 2021, the total container space of global container ships was 24.97 million TEUs, an annual increase of 4.6%. All ships available worldwide have been put on the market, except for necessary repairs and maintenance. Due to the low elasticity of the supply of shipping capacity, new ship orders generally require a shipbuilding cycle of more than 18 months to be placed on the market. In the case of a surge in demand, the supply cannot achieve rapid growth.

Freight rates will remain high.

It is mainly small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises that adopt the freight rate in the spot market. In the case of tight space, some freight forwarding companies have significantly increased the shipping costs and surcharges of liner companies. The more freight forwarding levels, the greater the increase.

The person in charge of the relevant department of the Ministry of Transport said that in 2022, the global container shipping market demand and supply will basically maintain a synchronous growth, but there are uncertainties in the stability and smoothness of the international logistics supply chain. The main reason is that the new crown pneumonia epidemic is still spreading globally, and some overseas major There is no obvious sign of improvement in port congestion.

Congestion at some major overseas ports continues to affect the global maritime logistics supply chain. It is expected that container shipping rates will remain high in the first half of this year. In the second half of the year, the supply and demand situation of the global container shipping market, the development of overseas epidemics and port congestion will continue to determine the market trend.

Make every effort to stabilize the logistics supply chain.

In 2022, my country’s foreign trade will face many uncertain factors. Stabilizing foreign trade and ensuring the stability and smoothness of the industrial chain and supply chain still require the joint efforts of all departments and links. Recently, a report released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange shows that although the local epidemic situation in my country has recently spread to multiple points, the epidemic situation in the whole country is generally controllable, which supports the export market to continue to maintain a positive trend, and drives the container throughput of my country’s ports to maintain a high level. In the first quarter, the national port cargo throughput and container throughput continued to maintain steady growth.