The empty container has finally arrived!About 730,000 TEU empty containers arrived at Ningbo Port!Xiamen Port available empty container has reached about 150,000 TEU!Freight rates are expected to drop!

Under the influence of the epidemic, China's foreign trade industry was relatively sluggish in the first half of 2020, but recovered rapidly in the second half. However, the efficiency of international logistics and overseas ports was subject to the impact of the epidemic.

A glut of empty containers has piled up in places like the U.S., Europe and Australia, causing shipping prices to rise and even double on popular routes.

Driven by the continuous rise in freight rates, foreign trade enterprises to be the first to ship further aggravate the push up freight rates, box tension.

Therefore, since the second half of 2020, the shipping capacity is tight, "one box is difficult to find" has become one of the factors troubling many foreign trade enterprises, and now the problem is gradually being solved.

About 730,000 TEU empty containers arrived at Ningbo port

Recently, the ship "COSCO Marine Star" loaded with 15294TEU container slowly berths No. 6 of Ningbo Meidong Container Terminal Co., Ltd.

Here comes the encouraging news that the 200,000-ton container ship loaded 13,469TEU of empty containers, easing the "near-thirst" of empty containers in the Chinese market.

A ship carrying more than 6,100 empty containers docks at Meishan port in Ningbo, east China's Ningbo Province, Jan. 29, 2018.

It is understood that more than 6,100 empty containers from various ports around the world will be unloaded in Ningbo, to ease the current shipping capacity constraints, one box is difficult to find the situation.

In January, Ningbo imported foreign trade empty boxes about 730,000 TEU, a net increase of about 160,000 TEU compared with the average monthly level in the fourth quarter of 2020, an increase of 28%;About 20 extra berthing ships with empty containers were added, nearly 62% higher than the average monthly level in the fourth quarter of 2020, effectively alleviating the urgent problem of "one container is hard to find" for Ningbo container exports.

It is understood that with the continuous advancement of the work of the special team, the number of empty containers at Ningbo port in February and March will be further increased, effectively alleviating the periodic shortage of empty containers.

There are about 150,000 TEUs available at Xiamen Port

By the end of February, thanks to the joint efforts of port and navigation departments, port and port and navigation enterprises, the total number of empty containers available at Xiamen Port was about 150,000 TEU, and the turning efficiency was constantly improving, effectively meeting the demand for exports.

Since last year, due to the rapid growth of China's foreign trade exports, foreign ports of empty container rotation is not smooth and other factors, the major ports of empty container shortage, freight rates continue to go up.

In order to maintain the supply of empty containers and ensure the stability of the "two chains" of the industrial chain and supply chain, Xiamen Port Bureau, together with port departments and port and navigation enterprises, explores the source from outside and the potential from inside to ensure the supply of empty containers by all means.

After the shortage of empty containers appeared last year, Xiamen Port immediately set up a special team to visit the offices of global shipping companies in Xiamen and jointly study the plan to increase the supply of empty containers.Made a special trip to Shanghai to visit leading shipping enterprises, coordinated and encrypted flights in Xiamen, and increased the intensity of empty container transport.In addition, Xiamen Port also introduced support policies for empty container transshipment to attract carriers to build empty container transport centers in Xiamen.

During the Spring Festival, we issued the policy of caring for port staff to stay in Xiamen, and ensured that large container ships of more than 150,000 tons were able to operate at the port for 20 times, and empty containers returned stably.We supported the repair of old containers and the construction of new ones, and increased the production capacity of two container manufacturers within the jurisdiction of Xiamen Port by more than 20%.Cooperate with port departments to accelerate "unpacking and emptying" (unpacking, unloading and emptying of containers containing goods), encourage door-to-door delivery service, and compress the process.

Under many measures, the number of empty boxes in Hong Kong increased rapidly.Data shows that as of this week, the empty containers of the top ten foreign trade shipping companies in Xiamen have exceeded 90,000 TEUs, and the heavy containers that need to be "removed and returned to empty" have exceeded 50,000 TEUs. There will be more empty containers coming back in succession, so the empty container supply in Hong Kong is abundant in the short term.