A shipment traffic jam on the world’s streets, oceans and air corridors could easily continue into next year, continuing to increase shipping penalties, according to the head of one of the biggest U.S. merchandise brokers.“The domestic merchandise markets are most moved and the world air-freight and ocean markets have vast amounts of limitations around them, ” said Bob Biesterfeld, chief executive officer of C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. “We could be standing up a pretty strong freight market throughout 2021, if not into 2022. ”That promises a windfall for truckers, air-freight companies and maritime shipping lines. Retailers, manufacturers and anyone else who pays to get goods around the globe will get pinched.As a middleman, contracting with carriers on behalf of shipping purchasers, C.H. Robinson can get crushed when long-term contracts don’t keep pace with discern penalties but adjust as new contracts are negotiated. The Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based company projects an adjusted operating margin of 40% for its North America Surface Transportation unit this year, improved from about 33% last year.Annual contracts for long-haul trucking will probably rise in the low-double-digit percentages this year, driven by spot charges that have pranced 35% from a year ago, Biesterfeld said in an interrogation. Air-freight tolls have almost redoubled from a year ago.Maritime rates have tided “the worlds largest”. The cost of shipping a 40 -foot container from Hong Kong to Los Angeles has nearly quadrupled in the past year, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Lee Klaskow, based on data from research firm Drewry.The crunch developed as people who were prohibited by the Covid-1 9 pandemic from going to see movies, concerts and restaurants spent their money on flour and treadmills instead. The result was magnified in countries where citizens received government succor. Deficits of trucks and operators, in some cases because of enhanced unemployment benefits, contributed to supply-chain blockages. So, more, has the reduction in airline flights, which usual carry some freight.And the seaborne freight industry is tapped out. The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest in the U.S ., is operating above what is considered full capability in a ordinary sell, JPMorgan Chase& Co. specialist Brian Ossenbeck said in a memorandum Monday.The Global Food Trade Has Been Upended by a Container Crisis“There’s no fast method to recover there, ” Biesterfeld said. “There are no extra ships sitting around waiting to be deployed.” Customers that normally could book a receptacle eras before send now have to act weeks in advance. Some firms in desperation are turning to more-expensive air freight.“We’re extending weekly contracts today from the EU to the U.S. and from Shanghai to the U.S ., only to keep up with the incremental requirement coming from our purchasers, ” he said. “The demand is pent up and it continues to remain strong.”

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