The presence of ASEAN (ASEAN) is increasing in the market for maritime container shipments to the United States. Looking at the volume of shipments in 2020, ASEAN-loaded containers have increased significantly, with the share exceeding 20% for the first Time in the last 20 years. On the other hand, the share of ships loaded by China, which is in the first place, has been decreasing for 2 consecutive years. Amid the general trend of trade friction between China and the U.S., the country is also encountering the New Crown (CCP virus) Epidemic. Vietnam’s furniture and other exports to the U.S. have strengthened momentum, and the situation of American Home consumption taking root is also reflected in the share of containers.
The Japan Maritime Center aggregated the volume of container shipments from 18 Asian countries and regions, including Japan, South Korea, China and ASEAN, to the United States in 2020. The results show that eight ASEAN countries, including Singapore, have seen a significant increase in shipments. Based on 20-foot containers, the volume of shipments from ASEAN reached 4.01 million, an increase of 16.1% over the previous year, reaching the 4 million mark for the first time. The share of shipments from ASEAN countries also increased to 21.9 percent, up 2.3 percentage points.
Against the backdrop of rising labor costs in China, the “China+1” trend of setting up production bases outside of China is taking root in the manufacturing industry. The trend of setting up production bases outside of China accelerates after 2019 as friction between the U.S. and China intensifies. This trend has not changed under the new crown epidemic, with Vietnam’s presence increasing.
Container shipments from Vietnam to the U.S. jumped 24.8% to 1.99 million units. The share of the overall increased by 1.8 percentage points to 10.8 percent, reaching 2 digits for the first time. Thailand’s share of shipments was 4.1 percent, an increase of 0.3 percentage points. the latest data for January 2021 shows that the share of ASEAN shipments reached 23.3 percent of containers destined for the United States.
On the other hand, mainland China (excluding Hong Kong) loaded ships and sent the largest number of containers to the U.S. reaching 10.81 million, an increase of 2.4 percent. China’s shipments were higher than the previous year after 1 year, but decreased by 6.4% compared with the recent peak in 2018 before the impact of trade frictions between China and the U.S. The share of China’s shipments of sea containers to the U.S. in 2020 fell by 0.9 percentage points year-on-year to 58.9% of the overall volume, below 60% for the second consecutive year.
One of the reasons for the expanding share of ASEAN shipments is the rooted home demand in the United States. With the increase of American home consumption, the sea container shipping freight rates throughout Asia rose. Data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange showed that freight rates from China to the United States were $4,008 per 40-foot container as of early March, reaching about three times that of the same period a year earlier and near a record high. The head of a large shipping company said that the container freight rate from Southeast Asia also “reached the same level of about three times of the same period of the previous year with China. Especially in Vietnam and Thailand, the container shortage is increasingly serious”.
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