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China’s Ministry of Transport is so deeply concerned about freight rates for services between the nation and Japan, which have gone negative for three months, or since May, that it recently launched an investigation into the extraordinary situation.

Plagued with notable decreases in profitability, container service providers catering to the trade have remained in the red for as many months now. To help them come back, the ministry has formed an investigation team with the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE).

The team will look into whether container services between China and Japan are provided with the freight rates that shipping companies have reported to the SSE in accordance with the Regulations on International Maritime Transportation. In other words, it will investigate whether actual freights differ from the reported freights. The team will unveil interim reports in mid-August and mid-September.

On the route between China and Japan, services from Qingdao to Japan have been operated at a freight rate of minus $500 per TEU since May. The shipping industry is estimated to generate an overall loss of 100 million yuan every week, as collecting various charges has not been so effective as to help providers return to profitability.

The investigation will be carried out in two stages—into freight rates for services from Qingdao, Dalian and Tianjin in the first and those for services from Shanghai and Xiamen in the second.


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