By Richie Lin      Photo ：Tom Fisk

Ocean freight rate drops in November but carriers use blank sailing to keep up the rate.

Ocean freight rate reference in week 45:

Following rate reference in week 45. 

• Asia main ports to USAWC USD 8500~11000 per 40GP; 
• Asia main ports to USAEC USD 13500~16000 per 40GP; 
• Asia main ports to for IPI points of USA is USD 17500~20000 per 40GP.

Please note above rate is only for reference, carriers might only give space for higher rate, which will be from USD 15,000~25,000 per 40GP for different destinations.

Just when people are concerned about the inflation will happen around the world ocean freight rate seems begin to go down in China. Main reason is the electricity restriction happening in China has made factories reduce their production capacity and consequentially cut the request of space to export. Also delayed schedule and port congestions in USA made customers stop arranging shipments temporarily because it’s too late to arrange ocean freight if cargo needs to arrive before Christmas. As of the result, some customers have no urgency to fight for limited space and result in rate drop in week 45. Although rate drops, but carriers use the blank sailing to reduce the space supply in the market to keep up the rate. We still need to observe the market trend and it’s hard to say firmly if rate will keep go down in the future. High profits in 2021 have given carriers more bargaining power to expand their fleets and merge vertically in supply chain. EMC has announced they will build more 20000 teu vessels and Maersk just announced they will merge Senator- a Germany forwarder to provide end to end solutions for customers. . The tug of war between customers and carriers will keep going until it reach a balance. Customers all hope rate will go down gradually from now on but rate is not only decided by space capacity but also by port condition, trucks, chassis and other factors in supply chain

Airfreight market rate in Week 45:

The airfreight is updated each week to match the market situation. The following market rate for your reference.

• PVG/SZX/HKG/TPE to LAX USD 17.0/kg,
• PVG/SZX/HKG/TPE to ORD USD 17.0/kg, 
• PVG/SZX/HKG/TPE to JFK USD 20.0/kg. 

Airfreight rate will keep increasing in November because ocean freight is too late for Thanksgiving and Christmas products to be put on shelves of stores on time.

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