In April 2021, we do foreign trade have two important blessings to send out:

On April 4th, Christian customers celebrate Easter, one of the most important festivals of the year.

On April 13th Muslim clients entered Ramadan, their holiest month of the year.

Although these two sets of customer groups, but their shopping needs are the same.

Easter is one of the most important holidays in the United States after Christmas.
Easter is also second only to Christmas in terms of spending in the UK.
In terms of shopping items, food topped the list, followed by gifts, clothing and holiday cards.

Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr are also high times for Muslims to shop for food and supplies, as well as holiday gifts for themselves and their families.
During Ramadan, food, kitchen utensils, 3C electronics, clothing and home appliances are in high demand and are the most popular items.
And as offline stores cut their opening hours, there will be a boom in online spending.

Due to the combined shopping demand of the two holidays, many ports around the world have seen a flood of goods arriving, and some have even been overwhelmed with imported goods.

01
In North America
The ports in the west of the US are still heavily blocked, and the 2M Alliance has even cancelled two routes between the west and the US since the middle of this month.

Waiting times at the Port of Los Angeles take an average of eight to 10 days, and crew members at Yangming Shipping said they had been instructed by the port to "slow down a bit" for their incoming ships.
"The crew said helplessly," It's already driving very slowly.

According to the latest data from the Port of Los Angeles Signal platform on March 9, weekly inbound container volume is expected to reach 141,200 TEU, a 387.73% increase over the same period last year, with a slight decrease to 133,900 TEU in week 11 and a recovery to 140,000 TEU in week 12.

A freight agent said, now the United States west line more than 7 into the cargo resumed "buy space fee".

And according to a new estimate by Sea Intelligence, a leading Danish shipping consultancy, the rate spike could continue through the spring of 2022, with rates on U.S. routes likely to rise another 25 percent.
Its research also notes that U.S. retail inventories are still at historic lows, with relative inventory levels already the lowest in 28 years.
That means there will be a steady stream of goods coming to the United States.

Jeremy Nixon, CEO of Japan's Ocean Network Shipping (ONE), pointed out that Asian terminals are currently operating 24 hours a day, compared with 112 hours a week at berths on the West Coast of the United States, 88-90 hours a week at container terminals and daytime operations on land.

Try to calculate, Asia day and night to the United States to ship goods, and the United States over there to receive goods can not be so desperate, that is not blocked just blame...

Jeremy Nixon says the current situation on the trans-Pacific route is unlikely to improve any time soon.

To add to the problem, a strike by longshoremen at the Port of Montreal, eastern Canada's biggest port, is due to begin on January 21st, which is sure to add to America's already overburdened rail network.

Shipping company Herberot has sent an email to customers encouraging them to find alternative means of transport to Montreal by March 21 and to be prepared to reroute the cargo if possible.

02
The European
In Europe, heavy congestion at the British port of Felixstowe in December prompted shipping companies to divert to Liverpool, putting considerable pressure on Liverpool's onshore operations.
Yet Britain's container ports continue to suffer congestion, with Liverpool the latest port for shippers and shippers to lash out at.

Others include major international ports such as Rotterdam, Hamburg and Le Havre.

03
Asia
As previously noted by Focus Vision, Chittagong, Bangladesh, known as the "best city in the world," is now even more congested.

Last week, the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) doubled the rent for full containers of imported containers stuck in the port yard for more than 11 days.
Port officials said importers have prepared a large amount of goods for Ramadan in mid-April and Eid al-Fitr in May, but importers prefer to use the port yard as their usual warehouse because the rent at the port yard is much lower than the rent at the outside warehouse.
Therefore, CPA urges the importer to take away the containers as soon as possible to help the port yard run smoothly.

It is also worth noting that, in light of the increasing incidents at Chittagong and other ports, Bangladesh's maritime authorities have taken action to strictly enforce container weight verification (VGM) requirements.
Last Tuesday, Bangladesh's Registrar of Shipping ordered all concerned to comply with VGM requirements under the SOLAS Convention and asked port management to check the loading in three stages during the process of moving the containers to the vessel.

04
Good news: the sea freight rate appears to decline trend
The good news is that, according to the latest data released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange on March 12, the overall situation of China's export container transport market declined last week, with freight rates of several ocean-going routes falling to varying degrees.

European line: on March 12th, the freight rate (sea freight and sea freight surcharge) for Shanghai exports to European basic port market was USD 3712 /TEU, down 6.4% compared with the previous period.
The Mediterranean route, the situation is slightly better than the European route, most airlines to maintain the original freight unchanged, some airlines slightly reduced freight.
On March 12, the market freight rate for Shanghai exports to the Mediterranean basic port (sea freight and sea surcharge) was USD4020 /TEU, down 1.4% compared with the previous period.

Persian Gulf route: on March 12th, the freight rate (sea freight and sea surcharge) for Shanghai exports to the Persian Gulf basic port market was USD1428 /TEU, down 6.7% compared with the previous period.

Australia and New Zealand route: on March 12th, the freight rate (sea freight and sea surcharge) for Shanghai exports to Australia and New Zealand Basic Port market was USD2095 /TEU, down 6.8% compared with the previous period.

South America route: on March 12th, the freight rate (sea freight and sea surcharge) for Shanghai exports to South America's basic port market was US $7373 /TEU, down 5.5% compared with the previous period.

Although the decline is not big, but there was a downward trend, is to wait for the shipment of foreign trade people to see a glimmer of hope!