By Ashley Kao.     Photo：William Liu

Congestion at Asian ports is getting worse.

The average number of vessels waiting to berth in Asia increased from 13 days in Dec to 16.7 days in Jan. According to new data, Hong Kong, which saw the largest cases increase in Covid-19, and berth time from 17.5 days to 22.5 days. The outbreak continues to impact port workers and other supply chain, which will continue to impact supply chain operations around the world and will be a major cause of delays.

Supply chains stretching from Asia to LA cannot cope with current levels of consumer demand for goods. While LA and LB ports offloaded record numbers of vessels and record container utilization last year, infrastructure and logistics were unable to cope with the unrelated increase. With delays on both ends of the Trans-Pacific West trade route, the impacts on the rest of the world will continue.

In China's export container market, the freight rates maintain at a high level

There are still outbreaks in some areas of China, but the overall control is good. This week, China's export container transportation market was generally stable, and the freight rates maintain at a high level. In addition, on the European route, the pandemic continued to affect in Europe on a large scale, with a high number of new diagnoses every day, and other risks, the future economic recovery faces uncertainty. The demand for daily necessities and medical supplies is relatively large, and the demand for transportation maintain at a high level.

The below is the feedback from China and Southeast Asia branches in week 7,

Shenzhen

Seaport:

The traditional post-new year (CNY) lull has helped ease China’s port congestion, but cargo backlogs and container shortages are still propping up rates. There are still some local Covid issues to deal with, several CFS warehouses in Shenzhen stopped receiving cargo due to Covid-19 restrictions, causing local delays for factories and transport. The freight rates have started to increase especially the US IPI points, and the space has become tight.

Airport:

Because factories have just resumed back to work, the space is more available, and the rates has dropped.

Hong Kong

Seaport:

Due to the pandemic affect, China's transportation through Hong Kong port is restricted.

Airport:

Air freight rates are slightly decreased, and the space is more available after the CNY Holidays.

Shanghai

Seaport:

The capacity situation had improved at Shanghai since the CNY, but space is still tight with many vessels having blank sailings and omitted service following the lunar new year closings in China. High volumes of cargo that was rolled before the holiday are still taking up space for departures. The freight rate is maintained to basic ports, the rates to IPI ports has increased slightly. The space in Feb is full, and is currently sell the space for Mar.

Airport:

Factories resumed work this week, the air freight rates increased slightly. Trucking companies returned to normal freight rates for pickup. Due to the sudden outbreak of the pandemic in Suzhou, Kunshan, Nantong and other regions, each confirmation is required for delivery.

Ningbo/ Xiamen

The freight rates are starting to rise with many vessels delays over the next few weeks and with space still as tight as it was before the Chinese New Year.

Dalian/ Qingdao/ Tianjin

The factories have resumed work this week. The freight rate started to increase, the delay of the vessel schedule eased, and the space was slightly tight.

Vietnam/ Thailand

China’s strict Covid policy impacts trade Southeast Asia and caused huge backlogs at ports. Southeast Asian traders, farmers, and business owners are struggling to get their goods into the largest market. However, there is no sign of a return to normal yet.

Southeast Asian countries, particularly Thailand, are important suppliers of raw goods, such as rubber and electrical parts, which are important to China’s construction and auto industries. In agriculture, Vietnam and Myanmar accounted for more than half of China’s rice imports in 2020, and Thailand is a major supplier of construction materials. It also has a growing semiconductor industry, which China has great demand for.

Long lines of trucks arriving from Vietnam, Myanmar, and Laos are now backed up on China's border crossings. Many exporters are dumping their fruit on the border because truck drivers have been told to quarantine for 15 days before they can bring the goods into China.

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