The containerized companies of navigation - sentenzia the UNCTAD - are not responsible for the escalation of the value of the marine hires



The opinions of the shipowners and those of the loaders and the shippers on the reasons that in recent months have determined an exceptional increase of the value of the marine hires, in coincidence with spreading of the pandemic of Covid-19 world-wise, are absolutely antithetic. First they explain, roughly, than the sanitary crisis a repentina has had an immediate effect on the flows of supplying of the nations having determined increase of the question of marine transport, in particular containerized, that it has consequently caused a deficiency of ability available in order to satisfy such demand. From the rise of the hires necessary also in order to cover the new costs determined from the impact here surrounding negative of these exceptional ones on the supply chain marine, beginning from those for the repositioning of the container empty. The second ones, to great lines, accuse the shipowners to put practical commercial scientemente in existence incorrect and, moreover, to violate deliberately contracts in vigor imposing, the accusation is this in synthesis, hires whose conspicuous value is created artificially diverting the ability to naval transport whereby turn out more profitable and transferring on the goods the costs generated from inefficient but a lucrative one I use of the resources.

From various months the international representations of the loaders and the shippers are turning appeals to national and supernational organisms so that they inquire on this phenomenon and they place a brake to the escalation of the hires that - they denounce - has a devastating impact on the economies, in particular on the exports. If the American Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has announced the start of an analysis of the market of the shipping containerized, the EU commission has informed that, unless loaders and shippers do not produce tests that the marine carriers are deliberately distorting the market, it will not undertake some action neither some verification of the situation.

Today but a supernational organization has announced to have not only analyzed the situation, but also to have comprised which are the factors that have generated it. Having resolved the case, obviously it has also pronounced own verdict, recognizing innocence of the indicted ones. According to the Conference of the United Nations on the Commerce and Development (UNCTAD), in fact, the shipowners would not be responsible for the rise of the marine hires who have touched values never reached previously. Some guilt - the UNCTAD admits - the marine carriers has it, but evidently not sufficient in order to pronounce a sentence sentence.

The organ of sussiste the United Nations has confirmed that the problem and is serious. "About 80% of the goods that we consume - Jan Joffman has remembered, in charge of the section Trade and Logistics of the UNCTAD - is transported by the ships, but we forget it easy". "The incident of the Ever Given - it has added referring to the recent silting up of the portacontainer in the Suez Canal that has caused to the block for six days of this important marine artery - has remembered the world how much confidence we lay by on the marine transport".

According to the analysis of the UNCTAD, in fact, the incident of the Ever Given, that the containerized marine traffic has practically blocked on the broken important East-West, has primed a pulled up new of the value of the hires ad of the shipping containerized whom - it has found the organ of the UN - previously it had begun to stabilize after the reached historical maximums during the pandemic of Covid-19. The UNCTAD has evidenced that, being the marine hires a fundamental member of the costs of the commercial exchanges, the new increase of their value represents an ulterior challenge for the world-wide economy own while still fight in order to resume itself from worse the world-wide crisis after the Great Depression, since almost all the manifacturing produced ones as cloths, medicines and food are sent in container. "The consequences - Hoffman has confirmed - will hit the majority of the consumers and many companies will not be able to put up with the weight of hires more elevated and they will transfer it on their customers".

Passing to the analysis of the causes that have provoked this difficult situation, in a policy brief the UNCTAD finds that during the pandemic, contrarily to the expectations, the question of containerized marine transport is increased, going up quickly after an initial slow down. "The changes of the models of primed consumption and purchase from the pandemic, between which an increase of the electronic commerce, let alone the measures of lockdown - the document explains - have carried in fact to an increase of the question of imports of consumer goods, great part of which is transported for marine way in container". According to such analysis, moreover, the marine containerized shipment volumes are also ulteriorly increased when some governments have loosened the blocks and approved of national packages of stimulus and the companies their big wave escorts in sight new of the pandemic have increased. "The increase of the question - the policy observes brief - has been more important of the previewed one and it is not satisfied by a sufficient offer of marine transport". "Carriers, ports and shippers - law still - have been all which caught off guard. The container empty is left in resort in which they were not necessary, and was not planned their repositioning".

The UNCTAD admits however that the causes that have carried to this situation are complex and include changes and imbalances of the models of the commercial exchanges, the management of the ability by the carriers at the beginning of the crisis and the persistent delays in the connections between the transport nodes, as the ports, which had to the sanitary crisis.

The organ of the United Nations emphasizes moreover that the impact on the hires is general staff relatively to the marine routes that serve the regions developing, own where consumers and companies are able to not to support it. Currently - the document specifies - the hires for South America and the West Africa more are elevated regarding those for the other main economic regions. For example, at the beginning of this year the hires for marine shipments from China to South America turned out increased of +443% regarding +63% of the traffics between Asia and the coast oriental of the America North. Partially - specific the UNCTAD - this is explained in the fact that the routes from China to the nations of South America often are longer and are necessary more ships in order to realize a service weekly magazine on these routes, that it also means that much container is blocked on these routes. "When the container empty is in short supply - the document finds - an importer in Brazil or in Nigeria it must not only pay for the transport of the full container in import, but also for the cost for expenses of empty pause of the container". The UNCTAD explains moreover that another factor is constituted by the lack of return cargos: for example the nations in South America and finished product West Africa import more than how many export some and for the companies of empty navigation it is expensive to bring back the container in China on long marine routes.

If the verdict of the UNCTAD is that nobody is guilty being itself verified a concomitanza of unfavorable circumstances, considering evidently that the choice of the marine carriers not to load itself with the empty costs of the container repositioning does not constitute a crime, before to remove the sitting the organ of the UN has however intentional to carry the attention on three problems to face so that an analogous situation does not happen in future. According to the UNCTAD, it is necessary to get ahead the reforms in order to facilitate the commercial exchanges, is necessary to improve the monitoring activities and previsional on the marine transport and there is also need of a strengthening of the guarantor national authorities of the competition.