Strong Demand And Supply Chain Strain Continue To Drive Long-Term Ocean Freight Rates: Xeneta

Container ship - top view - representation

Ocean carriers remain in pole position in negotiations for long-term freight contracts, with high demand, port congestion, and supply chain disruption driving further rates increases. According to the Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI®) Public Indices, long-term rates recorded their tenth consecutive month-on-month rise in October, climbing by 2.2%. The indices now stand at a colossal 93.1% up year-on-year, with little hope of relief on the horizon for embattled shippers.

The past few months have seen...

https://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/strong-demand-and-supply-chain-strain-continue-to-drive-long-term-ocean-freight-rates-xeneta/

Port commissions to vote Friday on carrier fees for lingering containers

Aerial view of container terminal at the Port of Long Beach.

The Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor commissions are scheduled to meet in emergency sessions Friday to consider penalizing ocean carriers that don’t quickly evacuate loaded containers, in an effort to reduce backlogs that are crippling supply chains.

The meetings suggest that Monday’s definitive announcement by port administrators that the surcharges will go into effect Nov. 1 is not a done deal, especially with heavy blowback coming from large swaths of the freight transportation community.

Unde...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/port-commissions-to-vote-friday-on-carrier-fees-for-lingering-containers

No relief from ‘ridiculously expensive’ container shipping rates

container shipping

“Cost of shipping between the U.S. and China plunges” blared a headline in early October, citing a reported halving of rates in a matter of days. Was this the beginning of the end of sky-high trans-Pacific shipping costs, the onset of the correction importers have been waiting for?

Turns out it wasn’t.

Spot rates for U.S. importers may have temporarily peaked, but they remain exceptionally high, with no sign of a true plunge. Some indexes do show a moderate pullback, others very little or none at...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/hope-fades-for-relief-from-ridiculously-expensive-shipping-rates

Shippers fear ‘catastrophic’ fallout from ‘crazy’ California port fees

container shipping

The cure is worse than the disease, say critics of an emergency plan of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach backed by the Biden administration. If you think port congestion is bad now, just wait for what comes next.

On Wednesday, two days after the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced a surprise emergency fee for containers lingering too long at terminals, the National Shippers Advisory Council (NSAC) held its inaugural meeting.

NSAC, created to advise the Federal Maritime...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/shippers-fear-catastrophic-fallout-from-crazy-california-port-fees

Are historically high shipping rates causing consumer price inflation?

inflation

Before coronavirus, there was norovirus. Thousands of cruise passengers fell ill each year. “Cruises from hell” blared headlines alongside eye-catching pictures of giant ships. In fact, the vast majority of people sickened by the bug weren’t infected on cruises, but given the media spotlight, norovirus became widely known as the “cruise virus.”

Now we have more eye-catching pictures of giant ships in the news: this time, images of anchored container vessels stretching to the horizon alongside...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/are-historically-high-shipping-rates-causing-consumer-price-inflation

Import boom side effect: More container-ship accidents in Pacific

container shipping

The more stuff people buy, the more ships ply the Pacific Ocean loaded to the brim with containers. Combine rough weather, the occasional human error and way more chances to get it wrong, and you inevitably get more accidents at sea.  

A record number of containers fell overboard from ships into the Pacific last winter, coinciding with the import surge. A leading theory on this month’s oil spill off Southern California is that a container ship dragged its anchor over a pipeline during a severe...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/import-boom-side-effect-more-container-ship-accidents-in-pacific

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