Shipping Container Prices Have Begun Easing Since April
According to a report from Hellenic Shipping News, global merchants have begun witnessing the prices of shipping containers start to ease off since April. However, prices will remain higher than pre-pandemic rates and will most likely stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Based on data from ICIS, a petrochemical, energy and fertilizer market information website, traders in Europe reported container rates to fall by about USD$400 to USD$700 (RM1,641 t0 RM2,873) while other traders are seeing more availability for shipping containers and with lower price quotes since April.
“A third trader in Europe (where spikes in prices were less drastic) said container rates are currently averaging USD$3,000 to USD$5,000 per container. Containers from Singapore and South America were heard in the first week of April to be around USD$7,200 and USD$6,750 per container respectively. In February, they were around USD$9,000, including some as high as USD$12,000,” ICIS said.
The report further added that there were shipping containers available from Europe and Brazil, but supply from China, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam remain slim.
Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, importers have reported a global shortage in shipping containers, especially for deliveries to countries in Asia and Latin America perpetuated further by the steep demands for goods from China during the lockdowns.
The report stated that the global shortage of shipping containers has led to some importers paying three times more than the usual price.
“Higher costs of containers were brought on by the extreme high demand for goods from China during the pandemic as consumers have been buying products instead of visiting restaurants, travelling or attending events,” the report said.
“In February, distributors saw rates from Vietnam to Toronto were at USD$6,000 per container, where a typical range before the pandemic would be about USD$2,000 to USD$2,400 per container. Participants in the polymers markets said they have seen container rates fall to USD$5,000 to USD$6,000 per container in April from USD$9,000 to USD$10,000 per container in February compared to USD$2,000 before the pandemic,” the report said.
According to James Yeoh, Director of Solid Horizon, the festive seasons from December and February would see an uptick in import and export due to the increase in spending for Christmas and the Chinese New Year and would drive shipping container prices up. But they were expecting prices to stabilise after February. However, due to the Suez Canal blockage, prices relatively clamed quite later.
“Shipping container prices took a while to stabilise even before the Suez Canal incident. Normally we expect prices to go down in March, but it took a bit longer due to the pandemic and the Suez Canal blockade. However, even if prices do start to recede, it won’t go down to previous prices before the pandemic,” James said echoing the report made by ICIS.
For companies seeking shipping container products for centralised labour quarters, cabins, retail space or modular homes that fit local and international industry standards, please visit Solid Horizon’s website here, email the company at solid@solidhorizon.com or call them at 03 3396 3888.
END