Evergreen Shipping expects volume to return to last year's level in the second half of the year
Taiwan Container Lines Evergreen Shipping Co., Ltd. expects that as the volume of container shipments picks up significantly in June, the volume of goods in the second half of the year is expected to return to last year's level, but it is difficult for the annual performance to exceed that of last year.
Zhang Zhengyong, the chairman of Evergreen Shipping, said recently that from February to May this year, various regions were affected by the epidemic to take blockade measures. During this period, the cargo volume of each route decreased by about 10-20%. However, after the unblocking of various regions, the demand for fermentation has been delayed, and the volume of the two major markets of the east-west route and the Asian ocean route has rebounded significantly since June.
He pointed out that from the current point of view, the volume of goods from June to August should have a good performance, but because the epidemic is still full of uncertainty, so "dare not talk too far." Evergreen Shipping currently assesses that the half-year cargo volume is expected to return to last year's level, but it may be difficult to perform better than last year.
Evergreen Shipping expects that the long-term freight rate signed this year will be expected to increase or be flat compared to last year, but due to the many uncertainties in the global economy, long-term customers will prefer to choose to deliver cargo to shipping partners with stable shipping schedules .
However, Evergreen Shipping also warned that it should be noted that due to the second wave of spreading doubts, and the large number of laborers in the major consumer markets are unemployed and consumption capacity is reduced, the intensity of future demand for goods will be an important indicator of market recovery. It will be the key factor for the cargo performance of the container transportation industry in the fourth quarter.
According to the Evergreen Shipping Plan, from June this year to the end of 2022, the company will have a total of 63 new ships (including its own ships and chartered ships) to be delivered for operation, and it is expected that the capacity will increase by 529,000 TEU.
Evergreen Shipping said that with the successive delivery of these new ships, Evergreen Shipping will simultaneously return the long-term chartered ships that have expired, and dispose of the old own ships to update the fleet.
According to the latest data from Alphaliner in May this year, this year's global fleet increased capacity by 671,000 TEUs, an increase of 2.9% year-on-year, but cargo volume is estimated to decrease by 8.8%, and idle capacity is nearly 2.65 million TEUs, accounting for 11.3% of the global total capacity; 2021 The annual market is expected to add 2.8% of capacity and 6.8% of cargo volume, and the gap between market supply and demand will gradually narrow.