Online platform for container logistics and data Container Availability Index (CAx) described January as a congested month for Chinese ports as the country re-opens after three years of its zero-covid policy just in time for Lunar New Year delays.
According to the CaX index, indicators are showing container operator demand has increased by 9.7 percent from USD 513 (EUR 478) in week 1 to USD 563 (EUR 524) in week 5.
China’s manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) was 50.1 in January, increased from 47 in December.
Average prices for 40 foot cube containers in China also increased 3.6 percent from USD 3,662 (EUR 3,413) in the first week to 3.6 percent in USD 3,794 (EUR 3,536) in the fifth week. Although container prices in China have stabilized, they are still elevated CAx wrote in a release.
CAx also emphasized the increased availability of containers in China, with elevated readings in comparison to the last three years in Shanghai, Ningbo, Tiajin and other ports. This means there are more inbound containers with fewer going outbound.
“The strategy of repositioning containers back to Asia after the peak season gains strength from the clearance strategy in the U.S. and in Europe. This effectively takes the capacity out of the market, and we see that this has been top priority this year for carriers. The situation further helps in stabilizing the prices which has been the need of the hour for the current situation of supply chain globally,” Container xChange cofounder and CEO Christian Roeloffs said.
Typically, the increase in inbound containers is due to the seasonal repositioning of containers back to China post the peak season.
“The rebound of trade in China, and hence the container trade rebound, will depend on the pace of the reopening in China, that is, how quickly do production volumes return to normal there," Roeloffs said. "It is going to be interesting to see what happens when inventory stock levels in import countries have been rebalanced and there is a need to reorder. Effectively the question is whether importers are still wary of supply chain disruptions that will influence them to buy early or will they return to ‘just-in-time' model. In any case, we do expect to see a demand uptick – also because recent GDP figures make a recession in Europe less likely. However, because demand really plummeted a lot, we will not see demand reviving to pre-covid levels or even the ‘during covid’ levels too quickly.”
Chief executive of Hamburg, Germany-based international shipping and container company Hapag Lloyd Rolf Habben Jansen said the industry is back to normal, and the company is fighting for every box to get its ships full, according to gCaptain.
Another shift in the shipping and operations sector is Uber Freight announced a 3 percent layoff of its workforce due to digital brokerage activity, to impact approximately 150 employees, according to FreightWaves.
Uber Freight was acquired in 2021 by Transplace which is separate from The Digital Brokerage division.
“As you know, the logistics market is currently facing a number of headwinds which has impacted our customer base as well as the overall industry,” Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron said. “We accelerated hiring last year within certain areas of our Brokerage business, planning for a different economic reality, but the volumes did not materialize as expected.”
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