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.”