If no other particular upheavals occur in the coming weeks, the global shipping companies active in containerized shipping are preparing to provide to a 2020 full of financial satisfactions. How great these satisfactions will be are shown by the quarterly numbers that are coming out in the last hours.
On the other hand, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, the index that since 2009 has been tracking and recording the trend of sea freight rates for the transport of containerized cargo by sea, has just reached a new all-time high. Last week it closed with a record high of 1,857.33 points, crumbling the previous peak of 2010. At the beginning of the year the same index stood at around 1,000 points.
At the moment, the rates for direct shipments to Northern Europe are cheaper, being equal to $ 1,508 per Teu container. On the other hand, freight rates from Asia to the ports of the US west coast ($ 3,887 for each 40’GP) and the east coast ($ 4,676) continue to travel at more than double levels. The most expensive of all, however, are the rates for shipments by sea from Asia to South America (Brazil for example) where a 20′ GP pays 4,294 dollars.
Zim celebrated in the third quarter of 2020 the highest profit ever obtained by the company in three months of operation: between July and September the Israeli carrier in fact recorded a profit of 144.4 million dollars, up by 2,814, 4% compared to the profit of 5 million for the same period in 2019. The revenues for the three months were equal to 1.012 billion dollars (+ 20.3%) and the average freight per container Teu embarked of 1.176 dollars (+16, 6%).
Ap Moller Maersk closed the third quarter of 2020 with revenues down -1.4% to $ 9.9 billion, while EBITDA rose 39% to reach $ 2.3 billion. Merit, they say from Copenhagen, of the agility with which the hold capacity is managed, the cost reduction, the attention to the offer for customers and the temporary increase in the demand for shipments “. The main driving force on the group’s activities was maritime transport which, despite a lower number (-3.6%) of containers transported in the quarter, saw the net result grow by 511 million dollars, which reached 1.8 billion. dollars. Ebitda also increased by 25.4%. An important contribution also came from the Logistics & services division.
Other quarterly reports will be made public in the coming days and will confirm the very positive months that shipping companies active in container transport are experiencing in 2020.
