Exporting enterprises are suffering from high shipping rates and many kinds of fees charged by foreign shipping lines.
It’s a shame because the freight rate is constantly peaking
Data from the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) shows that, for nearly three weeks now, many rice exporters in the Mekong Delta have stood still when the rice output purchased by many enterprises has decreased. decline. They also face difficulties due to lack of shipping containers, high domestic freight rates, and various costs incurred during circulation.
Director of Phuoc Thanh IV Production and Trading Co., Ltd (Vinh Long province), Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, said that the company currently has about 2,600 tons of rice that have signed contracts to be delivered to partners, but negotiated to find ships and containers for packing. for timely delivery is having difficulty. Up to now, to maintain operations, all costs of the company have tripled.
Previously, renting a means of transport for a week was only about 1 million VND, now it has increased to 3 million VND. Not to mention the workers’ wages are now doubled, but the factory’s operating capacity is only 30% compared to normal times. In addition, container rental rates, which are currently at a very high level, now have a sharp increase in domestic freight rates, so businesses only buy rice in moderation.
Many rice exporters also said that they are trying to complete the contract and consider stopping new signing, because they cannot guarantee the cost. Businesses are also worried that if the distance is prolonged, Vietnam will lose markets in the Middle East and Africa because import partners will look to other sources from India, China, and Pakistan.
Sharing at the forum “Connecting supply and demand of crop products in the context of COVID-19 prevention and control”, over the weekend organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, General Director of Vina T&T Import-Export Company Nguyen Dinh Tung said: It is known that the freight rate for shipping containers to the US has reached 9,600 USD/container (40 feet), an increase of 5 times compared to the time before the COVID-19 epidemic. Even logistics costs to New York (USA) have reached the highest level in the history of the industry with 18,000 – 19,000 USD/container, 10 times higher than before the epidemic.
According to Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy, Deputy Director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Co., Ltd, currently, logistics costs are beyond the control of enterprises. Enterprises are considering whether to continue exporting or stop.
According to the Vietnam Logistics Association, not only businesses in the fruit industry are affected, but businesses in the seafood industry and the wood industry are also suffering because from the beginning of June 2021 until now, when the container freight to the US has increased step by step. week. For refrigerated containers, if in April 2021 the freight is only about 7,500 USD, in the first week of July 2021, it has nearly doubled, to 13,000 – 14,000 USD/container. Currently, the cost of shipping a 40-foot container to the US has reached $20,000. While before about 2 months it was only 8,000 USD/container.
Not only the US leg, the container freight from Vietnam to the EU also increased rapidly. Compared to April 2021, the container shipped to a number of seaports in Russia has increased to $5,000-6,000. Besides, it is increasingly difficult to book seats on ships, gathering containers for export is also a big challenge for businesses.
According to a representative of the Vietnam Pepper Association, recently, many partners in the US and EU have switched to buying pepper from Brazil, because the quality of pepper is not too different from that of Vietnam, but most importantly, Shipping cost is only 1/3 compared to buying from Vietnam. With this fact, the Vietnamese pepper industry is in danger of losing its competitiveness completely in the US and EU markets.
Cat Lai port is congested – Photo: Ngo Binh
Talking to PV Tien Phong, Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, said that foreign shipping lines increased freight rates by 2-3 times, even 6-7 times. At some stages, enterprises still cannot order ships and containers for export. Besides, enterprises supplying seafood materials from abroad cannot order ships to bring raw materials to Vietnam for export processing. Shipping rates are currently the most stressful on routes going to key agro-fishery export markets such as the US, Europe, the Middle East, India, Japan, China, Korea, etc.
According to Mr. Hoe, the container rental surcharges of shipping lines are all high, especially on long routes. For one container, Vietnamese import-export enterprises have to pay more than 10 kinds of surcharges.
According to a report by the Vietnam Maritime Administration, our country has about 40 foreign shipping lines operating regularly, taking up 95% of the country’s import and export freight transport market share. For routes to Europe and North America, the Vietnamese fleet has not yet been able to exploit, so the entire transportation market share is dominated by foreign shipping lines.
All kinds of blowing sea freight rates
Mr. Hoang Hong Giang, Deputy Director of the Maritime Administration (Ministry of Transport) said that the inspection results of the interdisciplinary working group with 9 foreign shipping lines (MSC, OOCL, CMA-CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, HMM, Maersk Lines, Yangming), shows that shipping lines all list freight rates on the website but do not show the time of listing. Therefore, it is not possible to know exactly whether these businesses have complied with the regulation of listing 15 days before the price change.
In addition to increasing freight rates, each shipping line also imposes 3-5 types of surcharges such as loading and unloading fees at the port, container cleaning, documents, lead clamps, etc. In which, the loading and unloading surcharge accounts for the largest proportion, ranging from 100 up to 170 USD per container and is being collected by all 9 foreign shipping lines. According to the inspection team, these surcharges were introduced by the shipping company without an agreement with the customer, without stating the reason for collection and the end time. Businesses also have to pay some fees such as declaring the tonnage of goods (about 30-50 USD). The surcharge levels, shipping lines do not have to register and declare with state agencies, so it is difficult to monitor.
Faced with the above inadequacies, the Vietnam Maritime Administration has proposed the Ministry of Finance to consider amending regulations on freight rates and other surcharges in addition to freight lines of shipping lines for shippers at Vietnamese ports to suit the actual situation. economic. This Department also recommends the Ministry of Transport to supplement regulations such as foreign shipping lines must register transport routes, schedules, and cargo volumes in Vietnam to prevent shipping lines from voluntarily abandoning, delaying or canceling bookings causing damage. for export businesses. At the same time, the Ministry of Transport added to increase the level of penalties for cases of violating regulations on price declaration and listing.
Loss of 100 billion VND/day
According to the information of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, at a meeting a few days ago with the Department of Industry, representatives of a series of manufacturing enterprises said that the very high increase in international freight costs over the past time has caused difficulties to the customers. towels for import and export enterprises. In addition, businesses have to spend many other expenses such as testing for COVID, so according to the Vietnam Association of Logistics Service Enterprises, the above situation has caused a loss of at least 100 billion VND per day to transport enterprises. .
According to CafeF
