China to address ‘plague’ of soaring shipping rates, insufficient capacity weighing on SMEs
- Meishan terminal at China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan port reopened on Wednesday following a two-week shutdown after a worker tested positive in mid-August
- Surging prices and gridlocks have wreaked havoc on the global supply chains, with Beijing set to study targeted measures to help exporters
With record high shipping rates and insufficient transport capacity set to “plague” companies in China into next year, Beijing is set to study targeted measures to help exporters.
Surging prices and gridlocks are wreaking havoc on global supply chains, the cost of sending a container from Asia to the east coast of the United States this week rising by 442 per cent from a year earlier to US$20,057 per 40-foot equivalent unit, according to US-based freight-tracking firm Freightos on Wednesday.
“The tight transport capacity and high freight rates is a global phenomenon,” Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said on Thursday.
Gao confirmed various government ministries and departments have combined to “actively take measures to increase container supply, enhance shipping capacity and strengthen international cooperation”.
No matter Chinese companies or the government, they all had better have some good mental preparation for this prospect