In June, Russian companies faced delays in transporting container cargo from China, as revealed by a joint review by PEC, Snow Queen, VED Agent, Arneis and Asia Import Group. This month, the average wait time for an empty container and free space on a ship increased to two weeks, and delivery times increased by between 36% and 50%.
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In June, the average time for multimodal transportation from China (by sea and rail) is 55 to 60 days. This is a third (36%) more than in May. Direct rail freight transport takes twice as long as last month: an average of 30 days.
Reasons for delays
According to the head of the Asian directorate of PEC: GLOBAL, Gennady Chichin, the reason for the failure to meet the deadlines was the postponement of demand and a shortage of free capacity. Thus, difficulties in financial logistics with China caused an underload of ships from the end of February to the first half of April.
As Alexander Degtyarev, general director of VED Agent, explains, due to the decrease in imports, shipping companies began to reorient the fleet in other directions.
At the same time, due to the situation in the Red Sea and the drop in Russian export volumes, the number of empty containers available for loading in China has decreased, the specialist said.
Today, companies have been able to solve up to 70% of financial logistics problems, says Artem Lylyk, general director of Asia Import Group. The Snow Queen network reported that in June the deadline for making payments from the Russian Federation to China is 7 to 10 days, almost double that of May.
As a result of this, the company began shipping goods en masse, thus creating a pent-up demand for delivery. There are no longer enough empty containers or empty spaces for transportation. According to Artem Lylyk, the departures of Chinese trains to Russia are delayed due to the increased flow of goods. The wait for available capacity sometimes lasts up to two weeks, adds Alexander Degtyarev.
Rising prices
The increase in demand naturally caused an increase in prices. Thus, in June, the average cost of maritime shipping of containerized cargo from China increased by 30%, up to 2,500-3,000 dollars 20`dc and 3,500-5,000 dollars 40`dc/HC. Rail transport has become 40% more expensive, the average cost is 8400-8600 40`dc.
Forecast for July
According to experts, there is no reason to expect an increase in the number of empty equipment in China until July. Next month, the rental price will continue to rise, after which transportation fees will increase. In July, prices can increase by 5% to 10%, and in August – by 20% to 30%.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
