Just over the past year, the global shipping market continues to be hot, international ports are congested, containers are difficult to obtain, and shipping prices continue to soar. On the other hand, the leading shipping companies have seen a big increase in profits and rising wages in the industry.

A big increase in profits! The year-end bonus of some shipping companies is as high as 40 times the average monthly salary.

Recently, Changrong Shipping, Taiwan's largest shipping company, handed out year-end bonuses to employees, which were on average 40 times their monthly salary, according to local media reports.

It is reported that the first reaction of many employees to see the account is: have you read it wrong? I have never seen so much money!

Take an employee with a monthly salary of NT $60,000 as an example, the year-end bonus received is nearly NT $2.4 million, or about 550000 yuan, while the ordinary commissioner can also reach a year-end bonus of NT $1.5 million, or about 350000 yuan. For a time, the year-end bonus of the shipping industry has become the focus of envy of the whole network.

Taking advantage of the east wind of the global shipping market, the major companies in the industrial chain have made a lot of money.

On January 14, global shipping giant Maersk Group expects the actual profit of the previous year to reach $24 billion (152.5 billion yuan); COSCO Shipping Holdings's net profit for the first three quarters of 2021 was 67.59 billion yuan, up 1651 percent from the same period last year; China International Marine Containers, net profit for the first three quarters of 2021 was 8.799 billion yuan, up 1161 percent from the same period last year.

Shipping companies are far from the only ones to make money. In 2021, against a backdrop of difficulties such as "ship jams of the century", a rebound in the epidemic, and a shortage of staff, Suez Canal Authority's annual revenue still set a new record, reaching $6.3 billion (about 40 billion yuan). An increase of 12.8% year-on-year.

In fact, after the "great ship blockage of the century", canal trade has not been continuously affected, traffic volume has risen instead of falling, and relevant departments are actively developing waterways. Recently, the Suez Canal Authority has raised prices by 6% in 2022 to cope with the huge demand for shipping.

The global shipping industry is expected to make a new record profit of more than $150 billion (952.9 billion yuan) in 2021, according to data. In 2020, the figure was only $25.4 billion (161.4 billion yuan), a nearly fivefold increase over the same period last year.

It is difficult to find a case of skyrocketing freight, and foreign trade enterprises are forced to use "big tricks".

2021 is the golden age of the global shipping industry, but it may also be the darkest year for many foreign trade enterprises. The doubling of shipping prices and congested ports have made foreign trade enterprises have a headache.

On January 13, a container truck was parked in front of a musical instrument foreign trade enterprise in Foshan, Guangdong Province. it was an empty container that everyone had been waiting for for a long time. Two months later, the musical instruments in the warehouse were finally able to go out to sea to customers.

Apart from the fact that one case is hard to find, the skyrocketing shipping price has become a common pain point for foreign trade enterprises recently.

Ningbo export container freight index shows that recently, the freight rate of Southeast Asian countries has reached an all-time high.

Staff of a logistics company in Singapore: the price of a container in Singapore may have increased 3 to 5 times, and even some routes can reach 10 times.

In order to save costs, foreign trade enterprises each come up with strange tricks, using a variety of geometry, physics knowledge, only to plug a few more boxes of goods at a time, the employees of an enterprise even use the ultimate trick, Jack.

Standard freight rates for routes from Asia to North America have risen six-fold year-on-year in the past year, with the highest offer from Shanghai to Los Angeles soaring nearly 12 times year-on-year, according to the Baltic freight index.

In addition to the freight, there is also a more troublesome boat jam.

Chinese Liang Liang does import and wholesale business at the port of Los Angeles in the United States. most of his goods are clothes and toys imported from China, and the changing shipping prices make him anxious every day.

Andy is the executive director of a logistics company in Singapore. Due to port congestion, goods are often not loaded and unloaded in time. Although more than 20 employees are specially arranged to be on standby, there is no guarantee that the goods will arrive on time.

In December 2021, the port of Singapore was once again stuck in congestion, and the waiting time for ships was extended from 2-3 days to 7-10 days. Congestion at American ports has also been slow to improve.

High seaborne prices are expected to increase global import prices by up to 11 per cent and consumer prices by an average of 1.5 per cent between now and 2023, according to a UN report.

Kang Shuchun, director of the International Freight forwarding Branch of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing: the situation in which one box is difficult to find and one box of ten thousand gold is a huge restraint to international trade, which will shrink the entire trade market and may lead to a long ice age in the future.

The three major indicators of China's shipbuilding industry continue to be number one in the world.

The China Shipbuilding Industry Association today (16th) released data showing that the three major indicators of China's shipbuilding industry will continue to rank first in the world in 2021.

With the continuous increase of transport capacity, the pattern of the global shipping industry is also quietly changing.

On January 5, 2022, Mediterranean Shipping Company, located in Geneva, Switzerland, officially overtook Denmark's Maersk Group to become the world's largest container liner company. At present, the total shipping capacity of Mediterranean shipping has exceeded 4 million TEUs, accounting for 17% of the global container transport market.

With the rise of freight rates, over the past year, the world's major shipping companies have also been buying.

On November 5, 2021, Changrong Shipping announced that it would order two 24000 TEUs capacity ships from Jiangnan Shipyard, each priced between $1.40 and $160 million, or about 890 million to 1 billion yuan, which is expected to be delivered within three years.

Kang Shuchun, president of the International Freight forwarding Branch of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing: freight has increased, so there is a profiteering period in the current situation. Driven by interests, there is now an increase in the phenomenon of building and buying ships.

Container manufacturing is also hot. Recently, the head of a large container manufacturing company in Shanghai said that it took his company six years to achieve the first container 1 million, while it only took two years to break through 5 million containers.

Data show that at present, there are more than 328000 container-related enterprises in China, and nearly 78000 new container-related enterprises have been registered in 2021, an increase of 61% over the same period last year. However, at a time when the shipping market is hot all over the world, some calm voices also begin to appear.

Kang Shuchun, president of the International Freight forwarding Branch of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing: the total volume of international trade will probably reach 12.4 billion tons in 2022. Due to the huge profits in 2021, many shipping companies are buying ships and building ships, and the number of new orders has increased by 94% to 95%, which may become a huge and indigestible market in the future.