Slowdown in shipping demand

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many disruptions in global trade. Then in 2021 the recovery of the economy led to strong and sudden demand which in turn caused a shortage of boats and an explosion in transport prices which were sometimes multiplied by more than 4 (1,600 USD on the Shanghai link /Rotterdam for 1 container in 2020 but 7,500 USD in January 2022).

 

But this price boom is ending and the demand for maritime transport is slowing down. Many professionals in the sector estimate that the volumes of containers shipped should fall this year by around 2 to 4%, before a year 2023 which will be marked by a sharp economic slowdown.

 

The energy crisis in Europe, the war in Ukraine and its repercussions as well as the growing inflation weigh on the purchasing power of consumers and have an impact on the demand for transport and logistics. This drop in demand combined with the end of the bottleneck in the supply chain is causing transport prices to fall back to their pre-pandemic levels.

 

Thus the 'spot' prices for freight have fallen sharply compared to the same date last year, according to the specialist firm Drewry the variation reached -77% on the Shanghai/Los Angeles link and -70% on the Shanghai/ rotterdam.

source : lesechos.fr, lemonde.fr