According to data from the Baltic Shipping Exchange, in January this year, the price of a 40-foot container on the China-US West Coast route was about $10,000, and in August it was about $4,000, a 60% drop from last year’s peak of $20,000. The average price fell by more than 80%. Even the price from Yantian to Long Beach at US$2,850 fell below US$3,000!

According to the data of the Southeast Asia Container Freight Index (SEAFI) of the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, the freight rates per TEU for the Shanghai-Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Line and Shanghai-Thailand Laem Chabang Line dropped to US$100 and US$105 respectively on September 9. The current freight rate level is even lower than the cost, unprofitable! The third quarter of each year is the traditional peak season for shipping, but against the backdrop of global inflation, the economy is expected to weaken and demand declines, and the shipping industry is not prosperous this year. As an important participant in the shipping market, truck drivers have a deep perception of the market. In the past years, before the “double festival” of the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day, as the shippers hurry up to ship goods, long queues have appeared frequently to enter the port, but the situation has changed this year.

Many truck drivers report that the market is indeed a bit down. Master Wu, who is about to retire, admits that “this year’s market is the weakest” since he has been engaged in port container truck transportation for more than 10 years. Industry insiders predict that high overseas inflation will squeeze demand and the downward pressure on the economy will continue to intensify. Compared with the shipping price of tens of thousands of US dollars last year, the global container shipping market in the fourth quarter is still not optimistic. fell further.