What is the current situation of sea freight?

Ocean freight rates have fallen by more than 8% since the start of the year due to rising costs and inflation due to the war, as well as increased shipping capacity due to shipping companies boycotting Russian cargo.

The Ningbo Containerized Freight Index fell on the 16 routes covered by its composite index, with demand "sluggish" in the Nordic and Mediterranean markets leading to "pressure on freight rates".

The Shanghai Export Container Freight Index shows that the Shanghai Export Containerized Comprehensive Freight Index has fallen for four consecutive weeks. Compared with the beginning of February this year, the decline reached 7%.

In the past month, the freight rate of Shanghai Port's exports to the European base port market has dropped by more than 8%; the freight rate of Shanghai Port's exports to the Mediterranean base port market has dropped by nearly 5%.

An industry source said: “It seems odd that freight rates are falling, even if they do remain very high, amid soaring fuel costs and ongoing supply chain disruptions.

According to reports, forward bookings in northern Europe have fallen sharply. Despite this, shipping companies are preparing to cancel more sailings to cope with the period of low demand. 2M operators Maersk and MSC recently announced that three sailings were cancelled in April, which MSC will return to due to "continued challenging market conditions".

Port of Los Angeles staff acknowledged at a news conference that there could be another surge in freight in the future as the outbreak improves. About one-third of Los Angeles' imports come from areas affected by the outbreak. After the outbreak improves, "depending on the extent of the current disruption, it may be enough to drive up transpacific freight rates again".