Financial partnership news on October 1st (Reporter: Hu Haoqiong) On the morning of October 1st local time, the ILA (International Longshoremen's Association) announced the news of the official strike on social media platforms. This is the first large-scale strike at U.S. ports since 1977. Industry experts believe that changes in freight rates may be reflected after the holiday, but it is still necessary to pay attention to the subsequent negotiations between labor and management.

In the evening of September 30th local time, the ILA union rejected the contract proposal for nearly 50% pay increase from the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), calling it "unacceptable." This strike mainly involves all major ports along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico in the usa.

The shipping giant Maersk Line updated its announcement on September 30th local time, stating that Maersk Line has prepared relevant contingency plans due to the expiration of the labor contract between USMX and ILA on September 30th.

American shipping expert Roger, who specializes in transpacific transportation, told the Financial Partnership news reporter that based on the situation at the local port gate, in the afternoon of September 30th local time, the container terminals at Newark Port (PNCT) and Maersk Container Terminal (APMT) only allowed exports and not imports in preparation for the strike, therefore ships arriving after October 1st will not be able to unload containers.

Roger further stated that in the first week of the strike, ships on the Asia to the East Coast of the usa route may be more in a wait-and-see status. It is not ruled out that regional feeder lines in North America or ships from Europe to North America may skip the East Coast ports and directly head to the Eastern Canada. Ships from Asia to the East Coast of the usa may face numerous port skipping or outright cancellations, prompting customers to choose ships to the West Coast of the usa or Canada.

Regarding freight rates, based on the pre-holiday freight rate situation, due to the approaching National Day holiday, many factories paused shipments, leading to insufficient transportation demand before the holiday, thus causing a further decline in freight rates.

According to data from the Ningbo Shipping Exchange, in the week of September 27th, the Ningbo Container Freight Index (NCFI) for exports closed at 1548.8 points, a 7.0% decrease from the previous reporting period. Specifically, for North American routes, the freight rate index for the East Coast of the usa was 2117.9 points, down 13.9% from the previous week; for the West Coast of the usa, the freight rate index was 2984.6 points, down 2.8% from the previous week.

Analyst Qian Hanglu from the Ningbo Shipping Exchange industry stated that the overall capacity of the North American route was sufficient during the week, the strike crisis on the US East Coast affected the market with some cargo volume shifting to the US West Coast, causing a larger drop in freight rates in the US East compared to the US West.

Some institutional individuals told the Cailian Press reporters that the changes in US route freight rates still need to wait until after National Day to show, but there are still many uncertainties. For example, the duration of the strike, if the strike continues to escalate, the US West freight rates may significantly increase as a result. At the same time, it is necessary to consider whether the railroad freight from the US West to the US East is smooth.

Editor / jayden