Far East lines achieve well-balanced flow

ON THE incoming leg of the Far
East-SA trade, all the ships are
running full, and importers and
agents are complaining about
the difficulty of getting space.
However, while the pre-Xmas
rush is well under way, inbound
cargoes are not being shortshipped,
according to a shipping
executive on the Far East trade.
“I don’t think anybody’s seeing
roll-overs,” he told FTW, “but all
the ships are nice and full.”
Alex de Bruyn of Safmarine
agreed about the short-shipping
issue, but confirmed that it was
a good supply/demand situation
on the trade – both incoming
and outgoing. “Safmarine’s
vessels are well-utilised in both
directions on the Safari service,”
he said.
Our other commentator
described the capacity supply/
demand situation as “nicely
balanced”.
“The tonnage deployed by all
the lines is suited to the current
demand,” he added.
De Bruyn agreed. Questioned
whether he thought anyone
intended to put extra capacity
on the run as the pre-Xmas
rush continues, he said he was
unaware of any upgrade to
current service deployment.
“All the lines made the
required service changes during
the first half of the year,” he
added, “so service patterns and
deployment are likely to remain
stable.”
In his summary of the rush
to date, De Bruyn noted that
the peak season this year
“started earlier than usual and
is still going strong” – and
he expects this to continue
throughout October.
Even the October 1
introduction of a westbound
general rate increase (GRI) of
US$100 per teu is unlikely to
affect his prediction, he added.
“There is no indication that
the 2007 peak season will be
short-lived. It usually ends
around mid-to-end October
and, despite the early start, we
expect it to run its course.”
Looked at from a forwarder’s
point-of-view, Dean Lailvaux,
national sales manager of
Access Freight International,
told FTW: “The majority of
lines are looking for rates to be
restored, as returns on the Asia-
Africa trade are slim.
“The large volume of
containerised imports versus
the lack of the same volume
in exports leads to a massive
imbalance, and the cost of
repositioning equipment is
often borne by the shipping
lines.”