On June 3, local time, global shipping giant Maersk Group said there were signs of further congestion in global ports, in Asia and the Middle East, due to the strong demand of the container market and the chaos caused by the Red Sea crisis.

According to Asia container consultancy Linerlytica, container ships in the port of Singapore currently need to wait for about seven days to get a seat, while in normal circumstances ships can only wait for half a day. Recent bad weather in Southeast Asia has further aggravated port congestion. According to the latest data, the number of containers waiting for seat in Singapore has risen dramatically in May, with the highest number of containers waiting for seat in late May reaching 48,06 million 20ft standard containers.

The Singapore Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) explained in two consecutive articles the main reasons for the congestion in Singapore: delays in shipping and a surge in container throughput.MPA said the Red Sea crisis caused ships to circumvent the Good Hope Corner of Africa, disrupting the planning of major global ports, and many ships failed to arrive as planned, resulting in queues when unplanned ships arrived in ports, resulting in the “ship gathering” effect.

Since the beginning of 2024, the number of ships arriving in Singapore has increased dramatically. For tankers and freight ships, the supply and refuelling activities are carried out in the land and are therefore not affected. However, container ships have been disrupted due to supply chains in the upper streams, and the volume of containers has increased significantly in the past few months, leading to the arrival of container ships in the stack.

The MPA report noted that the average monthly arrival of Singapore container vessels reached 72.4 million total tons in four months before 2024, an increase of more than one million total tons per month compared to the same period last year. The total tonnage of vessels arriving in Singapore four months before 2024, including freight ships and tankers, grew by 4.5% compared to 10.4 million total tons.

In order to ease port congestion, Singapore Ports Group re-enabled the previously discontinued ports and docks at Djibouti Terminal and increased human resources. Following these new measures, the number of handling containers increased from 770,000 standard boxes per week to 820,000 standard boxes.

According to the latest report, congestions in major ports in Asia, especially in Singapore, have led to the rise in container shipping prices. As of May 30, shipping costs for Asia-Europe routes reached $6,200 per 40-foot container, and shipping costs for Asia-North America’s west coast have also risen to $6,100.

The current global supply chain faces several major uncertainties, including the geopolitical crisis in the Red Sea, the frequency of extreme weather and the risk of strikes.Speed Global reports indicate that Canadian border customs staff may strike in June, and that workers at the U.S. East Coast and the Gulf ports may also strike after their contracts expire this fall.

The data released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange on June 3 showed that the Shanghai Export Container Settlement Shipping Price Index (SCFIS) European routes and U.S. West routes rose double, creating new highs since this year. The European Route Index 3798.68 points, up 12.8% from last week, and a cumulative increase of 72% in recent months; the U.S. Route Index 3240.51 points, up 5.1% from last week, and a cumulative increase of 77% in recent months.

In a report released recently, Korean Army, chief analyst of China Securities Exchange, pointed out that the current international order is being reshaped and competition and cooperation coexist in the context of globalization.

He pointed out that China’s manufacturing industry is gradually shifting from a global super-factory to a global distributed factory, which means that the mode of transportation has shifted from straight-line transportation to curved transportation, increasing a large number of intermediate goods and stretching the distance between routes.The Korean Army believes that the reversal of the global growth momentum may be the beginning of a new era, and that Europe and the US are no longer the main driving force for global economic growth, and that emerging economies will become the core variables.

The Korean military also stressed that there are risks in the resource goods and shipping industry, the supply chain restructuring is a trend variable, and the Red Sea crisis is a pulse variable.