“The space at the end of May is almost gone, and now there is only demand and no supply.” Yangtze River Delta, a large-scale freight forwarding company is responsible for saying that a large number of containers are “walking outside”, the port is seriously short of boxes, and “one cabin is difficult to find” is reappearing.

With such a shortage, price increases seem logical. “In early May, the United States line (freight rate) is almost $4,100 a container (40-foot container), which has risen twice in a row, each time by about $1,000!” It is estimated that the increase will continue and will soar to more than $5,000 in late May. This also means that this wave of freight rate increase will be multiplied.

According to data provided by data agency Freightos, since the end of April, container rates from Asia have risen by about $1,000 /FEU (40-foot container), bringing the price of shipping to the U.S. West Coast and Northern Europe to about $4,000 /FEU, and to the Mediterranean to about $5,000 /FEU. To the East Coast of the United States, the rate rose to $5,400 /FEU.

In fact, in early April this year, shipping companies have announced price increases, but the impact of real demand is somewhat weak. Unexpectedly, the situation has reversed, shipowners have wished to raise prices, and Maersk even bluntly said, “Compared with competitors, our new ship orders are still less.”

Experts said that shipping prices fluctuate in the short term, bringing cost and time challenges to foreign trade shipments. However, with the passing of the cycle, the price will fall back, which will not have a major impact on the macro surface of China’s foreign trade.

In response to the problem of freight price increase, Erjin packaging to change to change, take the initiative to respond to cost control, will also take some necessary operational measures to reduce the cost of the operation end, give customers more favorable prices on products, serve the long-term cooperation of old customers, on the other hand, to plan the shipment earlier, or build warehouses overseas, send the goods to overseas warehouses, and then transfer goods from overseas warehouses