Demand on the major container routes out of China to North America and Northern Europe continued to set records in June.
However, there are signs that demand may have peaked, according to data from maritime consultancy Xeneta.
According to the analyst firm, the high volumes indicate that importers are increasingly trying to protect their supply chains from disruption due to the situation in the Red Sea and shipping companies’ decision to take the long and time-consuming route south of Africa instead.
The latest data from Xenata shows that 800,000TEUs were shipped from China to Northern Europe in June. This is the highest monthly figure ever recorded.
The routes from China to North America did not set a record, but the 1.36 million teu shipped is a record for a June.
”The conflict in the Red Sea has caused a major shift in the traditional seasonality of maritime supply chains as anxious shippers rush to import as many goods as possible earlier in the year.”
”Shippers have assessed the impact of the Red Sea conflict on supply chains and are not prepared to risk a repeat of the pandemic chaos, which means we have seen record volumes on the large fronthaul shipments out of China ahead of the traditional peak season in the third quarter,” says Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta, in a note.
He points out that securing supply chains has been expensive.
In the period from April 30 to July 1 alone, container rates on routes from the Far East to the west and east coasts of the US increased 144% and 139% respectively.
Freight rates on routes to Northern Europe have also increased 166% in the same period, according to Xenata data.
However, the consultancy also sees signs that demand has now peaked.
Container rates to the US west and east coasts have dropped 17% and 3.2% respectively since July 1. Average rates from the Far East to Northern Europe have fared slightly better, but are now down around 1.6% since July 31, Xenata data shows.
