Looking at the year, 2020 has not been the greatest for just about every country with congestions, and limited services with the pandemic, many are looking to 2021 for a positive twist especially with the vaccine’s rollout. So, what are out outlooks and expectations for shipping in 2021. Keep reading to find out.
Freight rates grew trifold in December of 2020 of that compared to December of 2019 due to the high demand and low supply of shipping vessels and other services. This year, carrier companies were able to grow profits in a way that was unprecedented but it should be noted that this type of freight rates hike isn’t sustainable and cannot continue to increase but with equipment shortages carri3es have the upper hand and freight rates will still be high for shipping in 2021.
Early 2020 brought many changes to how carriers operate with more capacity management and strategic changes made to ensure that whilst the ongoing pandemic wreaked havoc during the onset of the pandemic. With better and more experience carriers performing capacity management better during the pandemic, and managing blank sailings, reducing costs and not also opting for various lower fuel options. Freight rates also increased due to increased demand and these carriers ensuring that the logistics and shipping industry would make it through with strategic management changes and approaches.
Also, with the likes of Maersk making a foray into offering end-to-end services for global logistics and other value-added services has made carriers look into market differentiation methods. With the changes in the industry in terms of redefining it and adding discipline with carrier management (from capacity, demand, sailings, costs and more), there have been many ways in which some carriers can stand and differentiate from others. This will set the precedence on how shipping in 2021 will continue to be.
More and more technology will be adapted into logistics and shipping in 2021, from digitization of supply chain management, real time tracking, and use of various platform management measure being set up by various leaders in the industry.
These are some of what we feel can be expected from the industry in terms of shipping in 2021. Let us know your thoughts!