Not only facing high transportation costs, businesses are in the situation that even if they have to pay, sometimes it is difficult to find containers to pack goods.

As a food enterprise engaged in exporting for many years, Bich Chi's products such as noodles, rice noodles, vermicelli, vermicelli, shrimp puffs are consumed in many markets around the world, mainly the US, Europe, Japan, Korea...

However, in the first quarter of the past, the sudden increase in freight rates had a great impact. "Most customers postpone their orders and wait for the freight to decrease before they can continue. Goods cannot be exported, so there is a large backlog," said Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Tuyen, Deputy General Director of Bich Chi Food Joint Stock Company. .

According to Ms. Tuyen's calculations, logistics costs last quarter doubled compared to October 2020. Empty containers are scarce and the rental price has tripled compared to before. "The fee has increased, but there are still no containers to pack goods, or there are containers, there are no ships," Ms. Tuyen said.

The situation is similar with Duy Tan Plastics. Duy Tan's export sales account for about 20% of total revenue. Mr. Le Anh, deputy general director of the company, said that the increase in freight rates in the first quarter of the year affected the time of orders and exports.

"The main routes that we are using have increased freight rates from 95-231% compared to a year ago. The decrease in orders due to the increase in transportation costs is estimated at about 10%," Mr. Anh said. That is not to mention a number of objective reasons such as the fact that sometimes the shipping company does not effectively control the booking, leading to the goods being canceled right next to the departure date.

A 15,000-teu cargo ship docked at SSIT port, in the Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster on March 22. Photo: SSIT.

The lack of containers, the sharp increase in export freight by sea is a common story of businesses that trade with foreign countries. According to information from the Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), seafood export turnover in the last quarter increased slightly by 3%, but in the first two months of the year, export activities were affected "very significantly".

In addition to rising production costs, the main causes are shortages of ships, lack of containers and soaring freight rates. Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that sea freight prices are currently inflated because the cost of renting empty containers has increased 7-8 times compared to before.

So what is the source of the business having to "scratch" to find the container? At least 3 causes are indicated.

First , is the pressure from a sharp increase in cargo demand while the transport capacity has not recovered in time. Lam Thi Thanh Bong, General Director of Karl Gross Logistics Vietnam, said that during the pandemic last year, due to a decrease in global consumption, shipping lines together cut supply by canceling trips, in the industry. called "blank sailing".

This causes a sudden drop in total carrying capacity. More than 400 trains have been canceled during the epidemic period, which means 10% of the whole year transport volume is cut. But this year, when the pandemic was brought under control thanks to vaccination programs, world consumer demand increased again.

In some places, continued social distancing - such as France just announced the 3rd blockade, Germany and Italy imposed partial restrictions on activities - causing the cash flow from leisure tourism to continue to shift to spending. use. "These factors lead to increased transportation demand, demand exceeds supply, so higher freight rates are inevitable," Ms. Bong said.

Second , the chain effect is that bottlenecks appear in a series of major ports around the world. Containers flocked to those spots but could not be handled in time. The Nikkei reported that the volume of containers handled at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (California, USA), gateways to import goods from Asia, increased by 45% in February compared with the same period last year, and for the eighth month in a row.

Slow release of goods makes the situation of lack of containers become serious and increases the freight charges accordingly. The starting price for freight from China to the West Coast has increased by 250% year-on-year. Transport costs from Europe to the West Coast nearly doubled.

In Lianyungang, China's 10th busiest port, the price of shipping a 40-foot container to the US skyrocketed to more than $10,000, from the usual $2,000-3,000. It is the result of work since the end of 2020, the cargo ships were piled outside the ports of Western overload, prompting Asian exporters demanded the return of empty containers for subsequent shipments, according to AFP .

Ms. Bong said that there are shipping lines that do not even accept export goods, because foreign countries have a lot of empty containers left over. They wait to finish processing those empty containers before exporting goods to continue. "There is no container where needed, there is an excess of containers where there is no need. This imbalance will greatly affect Vietnamese exporters," she said.

Third , is the container maneuvering strategy of shipping lines. A representative of a logistics company, who asked to remain anonymous, said that there was a sudden increase in export volume from Asian countries, so in the last quarter, airlines prioritized moving empty containers to markets where profits on these routes were better. , especially China. But the good news is that now that the container freight rate has decreased, this situation is also less worrying.

Therefore, exporters are currently facing the problem of high freight rates, but when they agree to pay a high price, it is unlikely that they will have empty containers to pack their goods. Or even though the goods have been packed into containers and brought to the port, the goods may still not be transported as planned due to no space (slot) at the last moment because the ship is full of goods or when the goods arrive at the transshipment port, they may being transferred to make room for another shipment. Duy Tan Plastic is an example that has encountered this experience.

A package was imported to CMIT port, belonging to Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster in March. Photo: Karl Gross .

Logistics businesses say that the situation of container shortage is still very large, so it also takes time to return to normal. Even, the freight rate in April is being affected by the recent congestion of the Suez Canal. Depending on the route and region, the price per container to Europe will increase by 200-300 USD. "I predict that the fastest is the end of the third quarter, the latest is until the Lunar New Year when the Covid epidemic is controlled by countries to return to normal," said a business representative.

Ms. Bong said that it is not possible to optimize costs at this time, exporters should check prices and book containers 2-3 weeks before the ship runs, even a month before hoping to get a seat on the ship. . "Enterprises should negotiate with partners to share in the increase in freight rates. Currently, the shipping line is still the controller of the game, but both buyers and sellers have to give their best to participate in that race. ", she said.

Mr. Le Anh said that shipping lines and logistics companies need to update more often about the situation of booking and freight so that businesses can understand the situation and notify customers. He said that it is also necessary to intervene at a macro level to be able to improve the situation and avoid scarcity and high freight rates.

Currently, the only tool for managing freight rates and surcharges of foreign shipping lines applied in Vietnam is only Decree 146/2016 of the Government, which regulates the listing of prices and surcharges in addition to the price. container freight services by sea, service prices at seaports.

When freight rates skyrocketed at the beginning of the year, the Maritime Administration said that it had coordinated with relevant associations to review the process of applying freight rates and surcharges of foreign shipping lines in Vietnam. Failure to declare the increase in freight rates to the competent authority will be handled according to Decree Decree 142/2017 on penalties for administrative violations in the maritime domain.

The highest fine is 5 million dong for failure to notify in writing the adjusted price increase or decrease to the competent state agency in some cases.

"It is known that the shipping company currently has registered freight rates with the Ministry of Finance. We expect the Ministry to publicize the information for businesses to know and check," Mr. Le Anh said.

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'Frustrated' to find containers to export goods to abroad

Not only facing high transportation costs, businesses are in the situation that even if they have to pay, sometimes it is difficult to find containers to pack goods.

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