Ocean freight carriers attempts to introduce GRI’s, especially on Asia origin routes, have seemingly become a monthly thing as they fight against low demand and over capacity.
Therefore, rather than Westbound making announcements in reaction to every attempt to uplift rates, we would like to make an open ended announcement that carriers intend to put rates up every month for the time being.
November saw the most recent GRI attempt, which largely failed to make much difference as some rate increases stuck at less than the announced levels, and many more didn’t get off the ground.
As things stand, rumblings of a December 1st increase are circulating again, which may or may not have any impact, and a recent article in The Loadstar suggests that at least one carrier is planning to effectively double their rates from December 15th.
It’s perfectly obvious that carriers need to raise the rates, which are currently at rock bottom and loss making levels.
However, major investment in the arrival of an unprecedented number of new build ships this year, along with the lack of demand in the market, means market conditions are far from ideal for uplifting rates.
However, carriers are attempting to counter these market conditions by creating artificial demand levels through the blanking of more and more voyages.
So, there may could be a GRI on December 1st, 15th or even January 1st. Hence the open ended announcement that carriers are planning to put the rates up pretty much every month for now.
If you have any questions regarding the above, then Westbound are here to help. So, please do not hesitate to contact us.
