Liner carriers are compensating for the recent rate increases on routes from Asia to Northern Europe with large discounts on flights leaving China in October, as reported by The Loadstar.
Lines are offering cargo owners a rate for shipping a 40-foot container from China to Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg below $1,000 for October. Similarly, large discounts are also offered on shipping to the British ports.
It is worth reminding that earlier almost all key liner operators announced an increase in the cost of shipping a container from Asia to the Northern European ports up to USD 1,900 from August.
Analysts had warned that last month’s increase in the container shipping rates from Asia to Europe would have a very short-term effect. In the August issue of the MSI Horizon report, it was noted that with this “colossal” flow-in of new tonnage on the way, carriers would only be able to maintain their rates by drastically reducing the supply of capacity through canceled hauls, intensified disposal of old tonnage, and temporary withdrawal of vessels from service.