As of September 19, the average daily charter rate for a 6,500 Car Equivalent Unit (CEU) car carrier in the third quarter of this year is approximately $105,000 (almost 140 million won), according to Clarkson Research, a British shipbuilding and shipping market analysis organization. Compared to the average annual charter charge of about $20,000 prior to the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020–2021, this signifies a five-fold rise.
The increased demand for car carriers due to a severe ship shortage is the immediate cause of the spike in charter rates. Even while international shipping corporations are constantly developing new car carriers, it usually takes two to three years for these boats to be delivered. Therefore, it is anticipated that the current trend of high freight costs will continue for some time to come. This prediction is further supported by the dominance of a small number of shipping businesses in the worldwide auto carrier sector. There are thought to be roughly 750 car carriers in the world at the moment.
The scarcity of car carriers is having repercussions for the container transport industry as well. The cost of shipping containers by sea to important export locations like Vietnam and the eastern United States has gone up by more than 10% from the previous month. The two biggest commercial partners of South Korea, China and Vietnam, have seen an increase in sea transport expenses for the past seven months. The ‘Red Sea incident”s lingering repercussions and South Korea’s export performance’s evident upward trend are blamed for this trend.
The transport cost per two TEU (one 40-foot standard container) for maritime exports from South Korea to the eastern United States last month was 8,666,000 won, an 11.9% increase from the previous month. The cost of sea travel to Vietnam increased by 12.8% to 2,059,000 won.
