"Container war": unavailable products, elongated deadlines We explain the shortage that paralyzes world trade

Articles not available at IKEA?Wine intended for export blocked in castles in France?An announced shortage of certain Christmas toys?There is a common origin for all these dysfunctions: the lack of containers, these immense metal boxes that roam the seas of the world on the container ships, between Asia and the West.What has happened since the "world factory" stops in China in early 2020 with the COVVI-19?Why are we still far from a return to normal?La Dépêche explains to you.

March 2020, COVVI-19 rages, many countries are confined to the world.In Asia, factories abruptly stop which stops global maritime traffic.In the spring of 2020, consumption resumed strongly in the United States, the same phenomenon in Europe in summer.Except that many containers are still in the hold and the containers are dispersed in the world.When maritime traffic resumes, maritime companies increase their transport capacities but it is not enough to cope with the sharp increase in consumption with the explosion of e-commerce.

Meanwhile in China, the goods to be shipped accumulate and form a bottleneck.When they finally arrive in Europe or the United States, countries are always confined or slowed down. "Les conteneurs ont commencé à manquer et les entrepôts se sont vite retrouvés saturés, un phénomène ​qui a créé de la congestion portuaire", se souvient Irwin Lefebvre, responsable des achats de produits maritimes chez Bolloré Logistics, entreprise spécialisée notamment dans la commission de transports."You had containers all over the world but not where it was necessary, that is to say in China," he explains to La Dépêche.

And to arrange anything, the slightest event aggravates the situation.In March, the "Evergreen" boat completely blocked the Suez Canal for six days.In June, the port of Shenzhen in China remained closed for a month due to five cases of COVID-19.At the end of August, it was the Chinese port of Ningbo-Zhoushan that closed several weeks for a case of coronavirus.Without forgetting several typhoons in the Shanghai region.

Read also: how to block the Suez Canal disrupts global maritime transport

The logistics chain is always strongly slowed down."50% of the goods still cannot be shipped because there is no room on boats," says Nicolas Sépulchre de Condé, Europe director of the logistician in2log, based in Asia.More than 60 container ships are waiting to be unloaded off the port of Long Beach in Los Angeles, the United States.In Europe, only 35 % of boats arrive on time and on the day.In 2019, it was 85 %.The main French ports, Marseille-Fos, Le Havre and Dunkirk, are also affected.

A puzzle to manage on a daily basis. "​Nous sommes confrontés à des reports hebdomadaires de départs de navires.On average, ships are ten days late. Cela concerne ​toutes les régions du monde.There is no longer any reliability of service today. ​Toute la chaîne logistique en subit les conséquences et se trouve complètement désorganisée", raconte, amer, Irwin Lefebvre, responsable des achats de produits maritimes chez Bolloré Logistics.

Before the covid-19, "Between the moment when a container was loaded in China, went to the United States and returned empty in China, he put two and a half months to do this loop, but today this same containerPut five and a half months to six months, "said Nicolas Sépulchre de Condé.

The rarity of containers has literally exploded the prices.In 2019, the transport of a 40-foot container between Shanghai and the United States cost approximately $ 2,000 in a public price not negotiated ("Spot" market).Today we must pay...15,000 dollars!The prices have been multiplied by seven.The transport invoice increases by tens of millions of dollars.

Long moribund, maritime transport has returned to success.After the bankruptcy of the South Korean shipowner Hanjin Shipping in 2016, market leaders are French CMA-CGM, Danish Maersk, Swiss MSC, Chinese Cosco or German Hapag-Lloyd.Fewer, maritime companies are in a position of strength.

Florent Noblet is the deputy general delegate of TLF (transport and logistics of France).He observes "the abusive practices of the shipowners" echoing the audit initiated this summer by the Biden administration.It is explained: "In addition to the freight rate which is the consequence of a supply and demand, significant overloads and additional costs are billed by maritime companies to customers and rarely justified.They will charge 1,000 euros more per container due to port congestion, or because of the COVVI-19 ".French importers-exporters have lost markets due to these rates for several months.

Faced with this price inflation, the French shipowner CMA-CGM decided on September 9 to freeze its "Spot" freight rates for its customers until February 1, 2022.The group increased its world fleet by 13.6 % between June 2020 and June 2021 and provided its customers 780,000 new containers for 15 months.

The phenomenal increase in the cost of transport will have repercussions on consumers.Nicolas Sépulchre de Condé, Europe director of the logistician in2log, takes the example of the sofas."You put thirty sofas in a container.The cost of transporting a sofa, before, was $ 70, and now it's about $ 500.The problem of distributors will be: how to avoid losing money on each sold sofa? "

Irwin Lefebvre, from Bolloré Logistics, goes in the same direction."When you have 10,000 pairs of shoes in a container, overall, the increase for the customer will be 1 euros per pair.Somewhere, it is acceptable to the consumer.But when you put fifty fridges in a container, the impact is not the same.We are talking about 300 to 400 dollars more per fridge.Who will pay ?Well, you and me.It was better to buy a fridge a year ago ".

All imported products are experiencing the same inflation: home decor, household appliances, toys, tools, air conditioning, etc..For Christmas toys, in addition to increasing prices, the question also arises of their delivery in time on the shelves.

"As long as global demand is strong, and as long as there is not the arrival of new boats on the market and new containers, it will continue to be disorganized," explains Florent Noblet, the deputy general delegate ofTLF.These new ships are not expected before 2023/2024.He expects a very difficult 2022 year.Nicolas Sépulchre de Condé, Europe director of the logistician in2log, tables on a return to "a more stable market" in February 2022 after the Chinese New Year.Irwin Lefebvre, for Bolloré Logistics, also expects an improvement in 2022, rather in the second or third quarter.Provided that the health situation does not worsen again in the world.