August Global Shipping Market Trends

The top 10 container ports in the world have shown impressive performance

The intensification of geopolitical tensions has not affected the growth of container shipping trade in 2024;In the first six months of this year, the container trade volume of the world's top ten ports increased by 7.4% in total. The growth of Chinese ports was particularly strong, with Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen and Qingdao leading the way, while Hong Kong was the only major port to experience negative growth;

The Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach rebounded, with a 14.7% increase, especially in June, with a 16.8% increase;Although the shipping company chose to skip ports to avoid port congestion, Singapore Port's ranking fell to third place in June, but still recorded a 6.4% increase;The strong performance of the port is expected to continue until the second half of 2024, and the growth of global container traffic is expected to be raised to 5.5% for the whole year.

market dynamics

China to North America

Due to the overall increase in transportation capacity on the US route, shipping companies have opened up bookings for cabin space in the western US direction, resulting in a basic balance of supply and demand in the eastern US direction.

After the decline in freight rates in the western United States since early July, freight rates in the eastern United States have also begun to loosen, and it is expected that the downward trend will continue.

Starting from August, the Panama Canal is expected to resume normal traffic, and weight restrictions in the eastern United States are expected to be further relaxed.

The threat of the East Coast strike has further escalated, affecting the accelerated transfer of goods to the West Coast; In addition, the Canadian Labor Union will also vote on industry wide strikes in the coming weeks, but has promised not to take action until the vote is completed.

China to Latin America

The vacancy rate has decreased, and two new Mexican routes were added in August, leading to further expansion of cabin space amidst declining demand.

Some voyages in the western part of South America have experienced oversupply, leading to a further decline in market freight rates; The addition of South American overtime ships has also caused a continuous decline in freight rates.

The congestion situation in major ports in Mexico has not improved, and the waiting time for arriving ships to berth continues to extend, resulting in delayed delivery of goods. Some shipping companies have already started imposing congestion fees on Mexican ports.

The water level in the Amazon River basin continues to decline, and multiple shipping companies have announced the imposition of a Low Water Surcharge (LWS) on goods bound for Manaus, Brazil.

China to Europe

The overall cargo volume remained stable in late July, but showed a weakening trend in August.

Most shipping companies maintain the freight rate level of late July, but there are signs of a bottoming out and correction.

The overall cabin pressure has eased, benefiting from the recent return of large ships to China bringing back empty containers, and the shortage of containers has also improved. However, some ports and container types are still in short supply by shipping companies.

Due to the concentration of ships arriving at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, there will be a delay of 5-10 days for large ships to dock/depart.

The recent strike at Hamburg Port has continued to have an impact on port operations, customs clearance, and container multimodal transport.

China to Mediterranean

The booking volume has fallen, and the subsequent cargo volume in the market continues to be flat. Most shipping companies have low loading rates, and there is basically no pressure on the supply of cabin space.

The SCFI Mediterranean Freight Index has fallen for two consecutive weeks, and there is a possibility of further decline in freight rates in the first half of August.

Thanks to recent large ships returning to China with empty containers, the shortage of containers for most shipping companies has been alleviated.

The ports of Thessaloniki in Greece, Barcelona in Spain, and Valencia all experience a certain degree of congestion, with an average waiting time of about 3 days for large ships.