What a coincidence! Two 34%!

At present, the trans-Pacific route has tight container space and high freight rates. In addition to port congestion, crew shifts, and insufficient American rail truck capacity, the fundamental reason is the sudden increase in freight demand. According to the trade data just announced by China, Japan and South Korea, from January to July, exports of the three countries to the United States were 434.42 billion U.S. dollars, compared with only 323.844 billion U.S. dollars in the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 34%.

Statistics also show that from January to July, the three major ports on the west coast of the United States (the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach, and the Northwest Port Alliance) also increased the volume of heavy container imports by 34% over the same period last year, reaching 6.869 million TEUs, compared with only 5.113 million standard containers in the same period last year. Box.
What a coincidence! The 34% increase in exports of China, Japan and South Korea to the United States promoted a 34% increase in the volume of imported containers at major ports on the Pacific coast of the United States.

Specifically, from January to July, China`s exports to the United States were 302.456 billion U.S. dollars, imports 102.10673 billion U.S. dollars, and the total import and export volume was 404.563 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 37%, 50%, and 40% respectively over the same period in 2020; compared with the same period in 2019, The three indicators increased by 27%, 45% and 31% respectively.

Japan`s July exports of goods were 7356.4 billion yen and imports were 6,915.4 billion yen, an increase of 37% and 28.5% respectively over the same period last year. Among them, exports to the United States were 1,3840.8 trillion yen and imports were 724,033 million yen, an increase of 27% and 24% year-on-year. According to data previously released by the Japanese Customs, from January to July, exports to the U.S. were 76.76 billion U.S. dollars, and imports were 45.190 billion U.S. dollars. Imports and exports totaled 121.95 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 24%, 10%, and 19% over the same period last year. 1:110 calculation), but Japan`s imports and exports from January to July were not as good as the same period in 2019.

South Korea's July exports of goods were 55.43 billion U.S. dollars and imports were 53.66 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 29.6% and 38.2% respectively over the same period last year. From January to July, exports to the United States totaled 55.204 billion U.S. dollars, imports 42.70582 billion U.S. dollars, and imports and exports totaled 97.91 billion U.S. dollars, up 34%, 23%, and 29% respectively over the same period last year.

From January to July, the container throughput of the three ports in the west of the United States totaled 14.025 million TEUs, an increase of 32% over the same period last year (an increase of 3.386 million TEU); the handling of imported heavy containers was 6.869 million TEUs, an increase of 34% over the same period in 2020 (an increase of 175.7 Ten thousand TEU), the increase of empty container recall was even greater, reaching 45% (an increase of 1.68 million TEU).
Faced with the 34% increase in the volume of heavy containers and the relocation of empty containers, the US West Port seems to be unable to do so. According to the Lowe's Daily report, as of August 15, there were 37 container ships waiting for berths outside the Port of Los Angeles. This situation has existed for a long time without any improvement. The three ports of Shanghai, Ningbo and Shenzhen handled a total of 60.41 million TEUs from January to July, compared with 52.44 million TEUs in the same period last year, an increase of 7.97 million TEUs, an increase of 15%. However, due to China`s more effective epidemic control and more flexible and efficient land, iron and water evacuation facilities, even if there has been an epidemic in South China and Ningbo ports, the three ports can still cope with the extra 8 million TEUs without causing the US West Port to do so. Severe pressure on Hong Kong.

Source:China COSCO E-Magazine