Freightos stats confirm 50% rise in TP rates

Online freight rate marketplace Freightos told American Shipper that eastbound transpacific rates have shot up 50 percent since Hanjin filed for bankrutpcy last week.    Transpacific freight rates have shot up 50 percent since the collapse of the liner carrier Hanjin Shipping last week, the freight rate marketplace provider Freightos told American Shipper Wednesday.
   Freightos’ stats, determined via examination of 3.5 million internal data points on its platform, seem to confirm the consensus view that ocean rates have been affected by the deletion of one of the largest carriers on the trade. The data points were related to shipments of 20-foot and 40-foot containers from Asia to the United States.
   While Hanjin, which has filed for bankruptcy protection in South Korea and the United States, controls about 3 percent of containership capacity globally, its share on the transpacific is much higher (around 8 percent).
   Freightos said forwarders that provide rates on its platform have scrambled to remove Hanjin rates from their online quoting available to shippers. Freightos predicted that prices will continue to fluctuate as the pricing pendulum swings back and forth over the next few weeks.
   “Hanjin’s bankruptcy doesn’t solve the industry’s rampant overcapacity problem,” the company said. “There are still over one million empty containers slots available. However, it will take time for these to come into play. Rapidly changing freight prices are a reality, making instant access to market rates critical.”
   Freightos also noted that, according to investor relations statistics from Hanjin, the line’s revenue per unit dropped substantially over the past year.
   “Global supply of shipping containers has been on the rise,” Freightos CEO Zvi Schreiber said. “Ships being built today are 40 percent larger than ships built only a decade ago. With the long lead time for capacity construction, balancing supply and demand is incredibly challenging. Unfortunately for ocean carriers, it doesn’t even seem like technology will change this.”