It has been nearly a month since the beginning of 2021, and the rising shipping costs since last September have reached the peak. According to the reporter's research, the increase in freight brought at least more than 0.1 yuan / watt to the cost of photovoltaic modules.

According to Indian developers, the freight of photovoltaic cells and modules has increased by 500% - 800%. The high cost of ocean freight has increased the overall cost of photovoltaic power station and increased the financial pressure of the project. Some developers have changed the transportation terms to fob and apportioned the actual port freight to the final customers. Some projects may adopt delayed delivery.

According to Reuters, the shipping industry generally expects that the situation of "lack of containers and containers" will not be alleviated in a short time and will run through the first half of 2021, which will have a certain impact on overseas markets.

Shipping costs skyrocketed, with some routes exceeding US $10000

The big rise in sea freight, which started in the second half of 2020, has attracted all Chinese export enterprises to complain. The photovoltaic industry has not been spared. Zhang Mei, who has been in charge of business tracking in the photovoltaic Department of an import and export enterprise for many years, said, "the price increase is beyond imagination. Take the European route as an example, a large counter was sent from Shanghai to Rotterdam. In the first half of last year, the off-season quotation (sea freight and various port miscellaneous charges) was still around us $2250 to US $2500. It has been rising all the way since September, and it has been reported to US $9000 in just three or four months That is to say, when the value of a container component is about US $50000 to US $60000, the shipping cost is close to 20% of the value of the container. "

According to Zhang Mei, in addition to long-distance routes such as Latin America, Europe and Africa, short-distance routes such as Southeast Asia are also rising in price. "The total ocean freight of the containers originally sent to Vietnam is zero, and even the shipping company will pay back the money. However, since November last year, the total cost of a 40 foot cabinet has risen to US $2000. The total cost of lines to Central Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh has even risen to US $4000 to US $4500. According to other laws, the sea freight will generally be reduced after the Spring Festival, but the freight forwarders say that there is no trend to reduce the price by March this year, "Zhang Mei added.

With the emergence of "sky high" sea freight, many exporters and receivers have been forced to take certain measures since the fourth quarter of 2020. The head of Latin American market of a front-line component manufacturer told the reporter, "in the fourth quarter, for large component export factories, the pressure of sea freight is quite big. In order to ensure the shipment volume, we can only ship at high prices. For some routes with large shipment volume, our company will sign a long-term cooperation agreement with shipping companies, and the sea freight fluctuates within a certain range, which can offset a certain price increase. Ocean freight, photovoltaic glass and raw materials have all gone up. In some markets, except for long orders and customers who need to be maintained, we can not deliver them if we don't deliver them. If we deliver less, we will make a profit. "

The person in charge said that if the overseas epidemic situation does not worsen, the sea freight may ease in the middle of 2021, and the export volume of components may rise sharply at that time.