More months of skyrocketing freight rates to continue
Exporters in Sri Lanka are facing issues pertaining to skyrocketing freight rates which are moving up by between 80-100 per cent.
Ceylon Association of Ships Agents (CASA)Chairman Iqram Cuttilan told the Business Times on Thursday that rates are still high and that this is likely to continue “for a few more weeks and months”.
The high rates continue to stem from the demand from China and the Far East that result in a space shortage overall since the vessels deployed are unable to provide space, he said.
Mr. Cuttilan explained that this has led to a backlog of cargo that fights hard to obtain space on those ships as a result of which the rates continue to be at a high level.
“It’s definitely impacting on us,” he said adding that there is a demand for containers at all locations because most containers are stuck at Europe and sometimes the shipping lines have to send them back empty.
The turnaround time from Europe that usually takes two weeks now takes about a month due to the lockdown and the restrictions imposed, he said.
“Our exporters are facing a crisis because of the higher rates, lack of containers that are not freely available, and space on ships,” the CASA Chairman said.
In the past Sri Lankan exporters obtained very low rates but now they too have to fight for the containers and rates due to the high demand.