As the global Covid-19 epidemic continues, online shopping has gradually become the mainstream consumer choice in the United States, and the US business of Chinese cross-border e-commerce continues to grow. Many products need to be imported from China to the US and then sold online. This requires faster transportation of goods. In order to meet these market demands, several shipping companies have launched maritime express services. Today we will take a look at some of the basic conditions of these express lines.
1. Unrivaled No. 1 Matson’s China – Long Beach Express
a) Basic Information
Code: CLX
Setup Time: Feb. 2006
Route: Xiamen(added from May 2009) -Ningbo-Shanghai-Long Beach
Transit: Xiamen 14 days, Ningbo 12 days, Shanghai 10 days
b) Advantages
Matson CLX takes only 10 days for transit and 1 day for discharge, while others take 15 days and 2-3 days respectively. Service efficiency at Matson is measured in hours, not days.
Comment: Matson’s China Long Beach Express has gone through 15 years. Their actual performance has achieved the promise of his slogan, and the service efficiency has always been the top level. To make an analogy, the reputation and strength of Matson shipping company in China and the United States container transportation is as famous and powerful as Michael Jordan in the NBA.
2. Not willing to fall behind — CMA’s EAGLE EXPRESS X
a) Basic information
Code: EXX
Setup Time: Aug. 2018
Route: Ningbo-Shanghai-Los Angeles
Transit: Ningbo 12 days, Shanghai 11 days
b) Advantages
Comment: As shown in the name of EXX, CMA’s service includes the X factor. If APL can do what promised, it may directly threaten the position of Mattson. What about the reality? Let’s take a look at the EXX report published by APL as shown in the following screenshot.
It is found that in May 2020, one voyage was delayed by one day. So CMA’s EXX service, even though it looks beautiful, is still a long way from Matson in details.
3.Competing with a new method– ZIM eCommerce Xpress
a)Basic information
Code: ZEX
Setup Time: June 2020
Route: Dachanwan-Yantian-Los Angeles
Transit: Yantian 12 days
b) Advantages
Custom-made for eCommerce customers with time-sensitive cargo
Excellent Air Freight substitute with better value for money
Fastest transit time from South China to Los Angeles and US inland locations
Late cut off from Yantian (Shenzhen) for Wednesday AM departure
Monday Los Angeles cargo availability
Space and equipment guarantee – no rolling
Money back guarantee for non-delivery on the Guaranteed Delivery Date
Quick rail connection to additional destinations: Chicago , Memphis, Dallas, Kansas City, New York
Comment: South China’s cross-border e-commerce business volume exported to the United States has long been very large. For quite a long time before, the goods of the cross-border e-commerce had to be transported by truck to Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai, and then transported out to the US by Matson express line.
ZIM saw the demand and opened a container express route from Yantian port in Shenzhen to Los Angeles in the US, which meets the needs of cross-border e-commerce in South China, and also improves ZIM’s own performance. If this route performing the same as promised, a large part of cross-border e-commerce products in South China such as the Pearl River Delta will be diverted to this route, because inland freight costs will be greatly saved and the timeliness be guaranteed.
However, ZIM ZEX service has not completed a complete voyage so far, and its stability and timeliness are yet to be known. What is most worrying is that the terminal of the destination port attached to ZIM is not exclusive. Whether this will affect the container unloading speed is unknown. In short, as a new comer, his real strength can only be judged by time.
4.Summary of factors affecting the speed of container transportation from China to the United States
By browsing the overview of these three container shipping routes from China to USA, we can conclude that the main factors that determine the speed of container transportation are as follows:
1)Distance between ports
As we all know, China’s maritime ports are all along the eastern coastline, while the US has two coastlines, the East and the West. The main ports on the west coast are Los Angles and long beach. On the map, California and Shanghai (Ningbo) are just across the Pacific Ocean.
2)Speed of vessel and number of ports of call
Generally speaking, the fewer ports on a container route, the faster the transportation speed. The faster the container ship is, the faster it will arrive at the port of destination.
3)On-time Departure and Discharge speed
If the ship sails on time, the speed of arrival is guaranteed. Otherwise, the speed of transportation will be delayed. At the same time, the loading and unloading speed of the terminal at the destination port is related to the nature of the wharf. Many docks are public terminals shared by several shipping companies. In this way, once the peak season comes, there will be unloading congestion, which will seriously affect the delivery speed of customers at the destination port. Accordingly, if the terminal is operated exclusively by the shipping company, congestion will be rare and the unloading speed will be greatly improved.
5.How to choose a suitable route when shipping containers from China to the US?
As more and more shipping companies value the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce business between China and the US, I believe there will be more and more routes similar to the above, which means more choices and reduced cost for the vast number of cross-border e-commerce colleagues and companies.
If your goods need fast shipping service to the United States, the above three routes can be listed as your choice. Combined with the location of your goods factory, if it is close to Ningbo and Shanghai, you can choose Matson or CMA; If within the Pearl River Delta, you can choose ZIM service.
