Strain in Shanghai

A flurry of export orders strained capacity at Shanghai port, reported the China Daily, who also noted the shipping prices spiked dramatically.

According to the China Containerised Freight Index, the month running up to the Chinese New Year last Sunday saw a rise of 11.95%, bringing the Index to a high of 1124.91 points.

Certainly the upturn in international seaborne has been fuelled by a rise in Euro-US services – the east and west coast of America routes gaining 14.78% and 16.17% in that period, while the European services leapt 19.81%.

Outgoing vessels heading for Europe and America have been over-booked since last December, according to Michelle Wang, a local manager at UniLogistics, a privately owned Chinese freight forwarding company. She also said the shipping price for container vessels has risen, on average, three times a week since January, with an industry source adding that the outbound container price has doubled in a month since the end of December.

Another factor that has contributed to the shortage of capacity was the reduction in container services last year in response to the global economic downturn.

The rise marks a continuing turnaround for the area. Figures from Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), operator of Shanghai’s public terminals, showed that December’s throughput for both the containers and other freight saw year-on-year growth for the first time after an 11-month consecutive decline.

(Source: Port Strategy)