AsiaCalculator News

Peak season, freight rates hike looming

IFW, an always insightful source, reports on how capacity shortage may bring peak season surcharges earlier than usual.

2 striking & interesting figures pop out: 

• rates increase of around $150-200 are expected per teu
• a good proportion of carriers are already 20% overbooked

This is not great news, and shippers will be once again dealing with fluctuating prices. 

With AsiaCalculator freight quotes estimator, we try to help importers, giving them an instant tool to get market freight prices and be able to budget their imports properly.

Asia - Europe container imports grow 20% in Q1

Read from the IFW website how trade between Asia and Europe has seen significant growth year-on-year in Q1 2010. 

This figure, experts say, should be considered with caution, considering that Q1 2009 was probably the most recession affected period.

This translates into a continuous raise of container freight rates on those routes, although it has been noticed that the rates increase has soften in March and April.

To get instant market freight rates, login to your AsiaCalculator.com acount!

Havoc on air freight as volcano ashes spread over Europe

The last few days have been quite hectic for the air freight industry, as airlines had to ground flights to Europe following the volcano eruption in Iceland.

Announcements were made, here, here and there for example, resulting in freight forwarders being unable to provide updated air freight rates these last days.

Using AsiaCalculator's exclusive freight rates estimator, importers can still access market freight rates online - however for specific requests sent to freight forwarders, we experience delays in replies.

Hopefully, as the sky clears out, the situation should be back to normal within a few days!

Transportation Infrastructure

The Chinese Government is in the midst of a massive upgrade of its transportation infrastructure. Until recently, China’s economy was able to continue to grow despite deficiencies in infrastructure development. This is no longer the case, and the Chinese Government realizes that in order to keep their economy moving forward, they need an efficient system in place to move goods and people across this 9.326 billion sq. km. land mass. According to World Bank statistics, goods lost due to poor or obsolete transportation infrastructure amounted to one percent of China's GDP as recently as the most current survey (mid 1990's). Logistic costs account for 20% of a products price in China, compared to 10% in the U.S. (read more)

China ports risk excessive capacity according to report

China’s ports will face excessive transport capacity in 2009 according to Asia Pulse on contraction of port business with the unfolding of the international financial crisis and the slowdown of the Chinese economy.

Ports taking container transport as their main business have seen their throughputs from USlines decline persistently since April 2008, and the throughput of other commodities has also been affectedy the downturn of China's foreign trade.

The consumption drop in the US, Japan and European Union, which are the most important three economies for China's exports, affected Chinese ports' export etransport severely. According to industrial insiders, the demand for container transport is closely hinged with the stability and recovery of the US and EU economy. Calculated on previous demand growth, the demand growth of container transport in 2009 is 10 percent, that of bulk cargo transport is six percent and oil tank transport is two to three percent.

Visit the Cost Optimization China summit

The China Supply Chain council organizes in next February in Shanghai a summit whose subject is definitely hot, in this period of financial turmoil...

Cost optimization for China-linked buyers being definitely at the heart of AsiaCalculator's mission statement, we thought it might be worth relaying this info - the China Supply Chain council usually delivers quality content. Here is how they introduce their summit - tempting, isn't it ?

'Did you know that a 5% reduction in spending can have the same impact on bottom-line profits as does a 30% increase in sales?

Business services are an expenditure area ripe for optimization, as they account for an average 30% to 50% of purchasing dollars that companies spend in China.'

Get all information below :

Cost Optimization China Summit on Wednesday 18-Feb-09 8:30 AM