Rate increases in the ocean freight supply chain could stick due to “artificially created” conditions, says local freight forwarder Go Logistics.
The firm has recently noticed bookings being delayed or rejected from many ports in China to New Zealand due to a lack of space on vessels.
This is despite economic data indicating a drop in export cargo volumes from China with many shipping commentators saying there will be no peak season this year due to unseasonably low demand.
But Go Logistics reckons the beginning of a new cycle in the China/New Zealand ocean supply chain could be emerging.
“What this does indicate is that shipping line space capacity management tools such as blanking ports and reducing vessel numbers on certain trade lanes is beginning to have an effect.
“It also indicates that the recent round of general rate increases announced by many ocean carriers may well stick despite the lack of actual demand.
“This will be especially true if delays from origin ports increase or the traditional congestion points such as Singapore, start to see transit times blow out as many will remember,” the company says in a recent newsletter.
Meanwhile, new vessels built during the height of the shipping boom will start arriving at the end of this year and early 2024, and this is another reason many ocean carriers will want higher freight rates to stay, it says.
They will need to be carrying cargo “at higher rate levels than we have seen so far this year,” Go Logistics says.
“When it comes to constrained space as we learnt during the Covid years, the key is to book containers as far in advance as possible so that space can be secured and held.”
