The cost of shipping wood to China has almost trippled since January \u2014 the result of Covid, increased fuel prices and so on. The slowdown in the Chinese economy has extended to the construction industry.<\/p>\n
Currently, 10 percent of the global shipping fleet is sitting in the water off China waiting to discharge and incurring demurrage costs daily.<\/p>\n
(Demurrage is a charge payable to the owner of a chartered ship on failure to load or discharge the ship within the time agreed.)<\/p>\n
Many ports have been shut down due to Covid and the holiday season has added further to delays.<\/p>\n
These factors have resulted in significant increases to inventory costs and a drop in demand for wood.<\/p>\n
Ports around Shanghai suffer from the shortage of labor because of COVID 19 pandemic and typhoons went through the area during summer so loading and unloading of cargoes are stagnating.<\/p>\n
Another reason is that Chinese exporters increased handling of containers, which caused an additional congestion. It is reported that the number of containers for North America is 50% more than in early this year. There are many ships waiting outside harbors and the congestion is expected to last through December at least. Demurrage is charged on import cost of the products.<\/p>\n
Europe currently suffers a shortage of containers, doubled by the congestion in Chinese ports, means that wood exports from the third quarter have started to arrive now, and it would take through December to finish. For some it took three months before the cargo arrived.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"