Finally, global container shipping is showing a strong rebound, making greater profits, going by the financials of the world’s two largest container shipping lines — AP Moller-Maersk and CMA-CGM.
As 2020 draws to a close, the world’s container-shipping network is bursting at the seams. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index jumped again last week, to another all-time high. There’s market chatter of all-in Asia-West Coast rates (including premiums) of over $8,000 per forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) and Asia-East Coast rates of $10,000 per FEU.
A continued shortage of shipping containers in Asia is putting upward pressure on freight costs – where some importers are paying three times more than normal – and delaying delivery times as securing space to ship goods has become more difficult.
During the third quarter ended September 30, 2020, both the global shipping companies showed improved volumes when compared to the previous two quarters. Both of them are active in India. Any impact on the global shipping will have a cascading effect on Indian trade too, said industry experts.
During the fourth quarter, maritime activity is likely to be more sustained than during the third quarter due to the ongoing increase in volumes. This momentum is particularly marked in the US and Latin America and allows the fleet to continue operating at full capacity as during the third quarter.
The CMA-CGM group while announcing the third quarter financial results said that volumes carried during the third quarter of 2020 continued to recover and were up 16.8 per cent compared with the second quarter of 2020. Volumes were also up one per cent compared with the third quarter of 2019.
