[Epoch Times November 08, 2021]Since the beginning of this year, the global shipping capacity has been insufficient and freight rates have risen sharply, especially in the field of foreign trade logistics. Containers are still “difficult to find”.
According to a report by the Securities Times on November 7, in Yiwu, Zhejiang, many small commodity manufacturers are facing similar problems such as foreign trade products being stranded for shipment, capital being occupied, and freight rates exceeding the value of the goods. This has also caused some companies to be Forced to stock up and wait and see, postpone orders, and suspend production.
There are 2 million small and medium-sized enterprises connected behind the Yiwu market, which has become an important window of China’s foreign trade economy.
Under normal circumstances, the security inspection warehouse in Yiwu Port will be released at 7 am, and the trucks (container trucks) lined up on Yinhai Road each morning are several kilometers long. However, at 7 o’clock in the morning on November 2, the long Yinhai Road appeared empty.
At the entrance of Yiwu Port, the uncle who sells breakfast here all the year round said that in the second half of last year, not only Yinhai Road, but also the roads around Yiwu Port were full of trucks entering the port every morning. However, since the second half of this year, the number of trucks entering the port has decreased significantly.
A stevedore working at the supervision site of Yiwu Port also said that yesterday, a group of 16 people in our group only loaded 2 containers. In the past, there was no end to work, but now there is no work at all. Now the whole of Yiwu Port, the lack of cabinets is obvious, and it feels like everyone is waiting for the cabinets.
He said that in the past, the empty container yard in Yiwu Port was piled up like a mountain, and the empty containers were piled up to 5-6 stories high. However, now in the empty container yard, some containers are piled up scattered, and there are only 3 floors at the highest point.
Mr. Zhou, the person in charge of an International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. in Yiwu, said that the main reason for this phenomenon is that the large shipping channel for foreign trade is too congested, the capacity is limited, and the containers cannot be sent out. When it is sent out, the cabinets will take too long, and more container late fees may be incurred. Therefore, many foreign trade containers that are urgently awaiting export are still stacked in the warehouses of manufacturers.”
Regarding the recent experience of the shipping market, Mr. Zhou sighed, “The ever-changing information has caused many freight forwarders and foreign trade manufacturers to dare not take orders and cannot do business.”
Due to factors such as shipping costs and skyrocketing prices of raw materials, a Mr. Xiong who is engaged in textile processing and export business in Yiwu previously told Phoenix Finance that “the profit margin was still 10% last year, but now it is only 2%.”
At present, the soaring shipping cost directly affects the enthusiasm of Chinese foreign trade companies to take orders, making foreign trade orders a hot potato among foreign trade companies, and some have to give up orders.
Editor in charge: Li Bing#
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