If last March it was the blockade of the Suez Canal for almost seven days that put the spotlight on freight again, now it has been the problems in the Chinese port of yantian which is putting importers and exporters in check. The terminals of that city are the main ones of what is considered the third largest container port complex in the world, that of Shenzhen. At the end of May, the Chinese authorities detected an outbreak of Covid and decided to implement quarantines and controls that have caused the docks of the port giant to operate at less than 30% of their capacity. A new traffic jam that has once again had a direct impact on maritime freight, which has multiplied by more than four since February of last year, as reflected by the Shanghai Cargo Container Index (SCFI), which is taken as a reference in the sector.

Between the end of May and this Friday, the price has increased another 7,2% and continues with an upward trend that was accentuated with the blockade of Suez by the container ship Ever given. And the expectations are not at all promising. Shipping companies already warn that the plug in the Chinese docks will be greater than that caused in the Canal. The world's largest container operator, Maersk, has announced delays of at least 16 days after 19 of its international lines have been affected. Although the Chinese port has implemented measures to improve and expand its capacity these days, it is estimated that operates at 45% and at least until the end of the month it is not expected to work fully.

“First it was the impact of e-commerce, then the increase in Chinese demand and the lack of containers and ships. We no longer know how far the containers will continue to rise, "he says. Núria Lacaci, Secretary General of the Spanish Association of Shippers (ACE). «The situation of container traffic is beginning to worry. China is the world's leading manufacturer and leading exporter. This, coupled with around 90% of the world's merchandise is moved by ship, makes a collapse in the ports of China can become another blow of pressure to our sector, in a year already complicated by the pandemic, "he says Francis Aranda, president of UNO, the logistics employer.

Shooting prices that also have a different evolution depending on the geographical areas. «On certain routes, the cost of shipping a forty-foot container that before the pandemic was just over 800 euros has now risen to over 10.000 euros », comments lacaci. As pointed out by the association, international maritime lines with the United States are the ones that lead these increases.

In principle, Spanish ports do not expect major impacts on their traffic in the short term due to the chaos in yantian. From the Port Authority of Valencia they explain that most of the cargo from the Chinese terminals goes to North America and Northern Europe, in front of the Mediterranean. From the first Spanish container port, they also point out that the large shipping companies have already announced rescheduling of their routes and stopovers to mitigate the funnel effect in the Chinese port.

It does not seem that this situation will have an easy solution in the short term. The industry is taking for granted that the rise in freight rates will continue in the coming months, as demand remains high and bottlenecks in the supply chain have yet to be resolved. In addition, the high season for container transport is yet to come and freight rates will continue to rise, although they indicate that the record levels that are currently being seen will be difficult to maintain and a situation very similar to the one that just occurred could be experienced. before the jam in the Suez Canal, when prices began to moderate slowly, trying to recover lost positions months before.

But the rise in prices is not the only consequence of the Covid-19 and the traffic jam in the Chinese ports. Importing and exporting companies also expect delays and waiting times in maritime transport operations to worsen. "If the normal thing now is three months late, this will mean accumulating at least another month", estimates lacaci.

This same idea is shared by the logistics employers. «Maritime transport moves around 80% of international goods in Spain, so the impact of this collapse can be very notable in terms of the delays it may cause. We do not believe that there will be a shortage, far from it, but it is one more turn of the screw to the tension that current global supply chains are experiencing, "says its president.

The retrasos They also have an impact on costs, which makes container movements even more expensive and translates into an increase in prices for the final product as well. The impact on transport costs is being felt especially in sectors that move materials of little value and that take up a lot of space. One of the large operators in the port of Valencia, Alonso Group, which includes the freight forwarder operator, recognizes that the tension on freight is making it increasingly cost more to maintain some types of cargo with lower prices and a lot of volume due to their lack of profitability. For example, certain plastics, glass, furniture, and storage equipment.

The high cost of transport from the Far East is even causing the supply of this type of cargo to be transferred to closer geographical areas and with other transport alternatives, such as Turkey and Eastern countries.

“We are detecting that a review is taking place in the design of global supply chains. The industry is proving to take too many risks with this Asian ultra-dependency, caused by low labor costs. Taking advantage of the digital transformation, manufacturers are studying establishing other manufacturing points in areas closer to demand, "he says. Aranda.

In this new scenario, Spain has a very attractive strategic position to attract industries that seek to relocate outside Asia, so the president of the logistics employers' association points out that “the Government would have to undertake a large commercial campaign to attract these industrial investments as other EU countries are doing. For this work, it would be very interesting if the network of embassies of the Government of Spain assumed a more commercial role.

A drag on competitiveness

This rise in prices is, for experts in the sector, a blow to the water line of the competitiveness. «The continuous rise in maritime freight is undermining the competitiveness of a sector in which any change, no matter how small, affects all links in the chain, and exacerbates the inflation problem that the US is facing so much like Europe and that already slightly exceeds the forecasts that the ECB had, "he says. Aranda.

Transport represents up to 10% of the total costs of the large companies associated with ACE, so any variation in that structure can entail millionaire costs. "In some cases, increases in product prices of 30% are being passed on," he adds. lacaci.

Beyond these consequences, important movements are also being seen that affect the container traffic of Spanish ports. Algeciras, which had historically been positioned as a key point in the Mediterranean traffic, has been losing steam in favor of other foreign ports such as Tangier Med, which has been located in front of the Spanish docks. In number one of the top 5 Spanish ports in TEU traffic - denomination of standard twenty-foot containers - is Valencia, which occupies the first position and grows more than 6% compared to the first months of 2020. Behind, with a fall of 9,58%, is Algeciras, followed far behind by Barcelona, ​​which has experienced strong growth of close to 30%.

In another vein, and far from the top three positions, Las Palmas and Bilbao occupy fourth and fifth place.

The big shipping companies

This context of high prices comes after a process of concentration of the large shipping companies that brings together important market shares. As can be seen in the graph, the ships of Maersk they have a capacity of more than 4,1 million TEUs and account for 16,9% of the world market. Follows very closely Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), with just over four million TEUs and a market share of 16,5%.

The third place is for the Chinese giant Cosco, which with just over 3 million TEUs accounts for 12,2% of the traffic. Very close to it is the CMA CGM Group, with an almost identical number of containers and market share, closing the top 5 Hapag-Lloyd, with 1,8 million TEUs and 7,3% of the market for this type of transport .