With the backlog of cargo stranded, the container shipping market is facing collapse
"Sky-high" freight rates and the huge profits of the shipping companies in the second quarter have been slammed by cargo owners. A new report claims that the carrier alliance is "suppressing" freight. According to market assessments by MDS Transmodal and the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), container traffic in the second quarter increased by 4% and a year-on-year increase of 22%, close to the level of growth before the pandemic. MDS stated that carriers are operating "actually at full capacity", with the utilization rate of most routes reaching 90%, noting that "in certain key markets" the share of capacity based on ship sharing agreements exceeds 40%. Mike Garratt, Chairman of MDS Transmodal, said: "This high level of integration is conducive to enabling routes to adjust capacity allocation according to changing needs, but combined with the resulting very high utilization rate, the freight rate remains at an unprecedented level in history. Th...