As the economy recovers, global demand for goods and raw materials continues to rise, and shipping demand surges. However, due to the collapse of the supply chain under the weight of the epidemic, port congestion, ship delays and other problems, there is a serious shortage of ship supply.
This shortage of demand has greatly pushed up global sea freight rates, and has also led the global shipping industry to make a lot of money in recent months, with daily earnings reaching their highest level since 2008.
The global shipping industry earned an average of $37400 a day in August, the highest since 2008, according to Bloomberg, citing data from the Clarkson Institute (Clarkson Research Services), a British shipbuilding and shipping market analyst. Meanwhile, the Clarkson Shipping Index has risen for 11 months, the longest in history.
Rents for almost all types of ships are soaring.
Among them, container transport is the main driver of the prosperity of the shipping industry, rents are rising rapidly and continue to set a new record. In addition, bulk carrier rents hit an 11-year high, car-carrying ship rents are the highest since 2008, and the price of ordinary cargo ships carrying heavy equipment is soaring. But at the same time, to the market's surprise, tanker companies are still losing money to transport oil.
1. Container prices are rising rapidly.
Since last year, global container prices have skyrocketed, hitting record highs, and this upward trend continues.
It now costs $14287 to ship a 40-foot container from China to Europe, up more than 500% from a year earlier, pushing up the cost of transporting goods such as toys and bicycles, according to Bloomberg data.
Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, raised its profit forecast for this year by nearly $5 billion in August. Dafei Shipping, the world's third-largest carrier, said it was freezing its spot shipping prices in order to maintain a long-term customer relationship, and Hebro, the fifth-largest shipping company, suddenly announced a freeze on freight rates. In other words, the company is making a profit. The profits of the industry are evident.
two。 Bulk carrier earnings hit an 11-year high.
In addition to end commodities, the economic recovery has also continued to boost global demand for raw materials, thereby increasing the income of bulk carriers transporting industrial commodities (coal, ore, etc.). Earnings for bulk carriers have recently hit an 11-year high and show few signs of decline, and demand for bulk carriers is expected to remain strong for the rest of the year.
Ted Petrone, vice chairman of dry bulk and tanker company Navios Maritime, said that the fundamentals of supply and demand will remain optimistic.
It is worth noting that the surge in demand for containers has led some bulk carriers to turn to loading containers. Although this operation can also bring profits for enterprises, in fact bulk carriers are not designed to carry containers.
In response, Ulrik Andersen, CEO of shipping company Golden Ocean, said: "this shows that the shipping market is in a special situation."
3. Tanker prices are weak.
The epidemic has brought prosperity to most shipping sectors, except that tanker-tanker companies lost money to transport crude oil for most of 2021.
At the beginning of the year, it was widely believed that tankers would benefit from a surge in summer oil demand. However, OPEC controls most of the crude oil production, resulting in a situation of less cargo and more ships, and the revenue of oil tankers has been affected.
However, as oil inventories fall, analysts expect oil prices to rebound. Eirik Haavaldsen, an analyst at Pareto Securities, an investment bank, said oil prices could start to rise in October as inventories fall and demand for tankers strengthens.
But for now, the trend of the tanker plate is still weak.