Since the beginning of this year, the global price of raw materials has risen sharply, not only that, but also the global shipping costs have also risen wildly. Many people can never imagine how exaggerated the price of shipping this year is. The Baltic Dry Bulk Index, an index that reflects global maritime prices, recently reached 4233 points, a 12-year high.
In January last year, a 40-foot container was shipped from a port in Ningbo, China, to the port of Los Angeles in the United States, for more than $1,000. Now, more than a year later, the price has risen to $20,000.
At present, the average increase in global sea freight prices is as high as 7 times. In addition, many people in the industry said that the current sea freight price is basically one price a day. Behind the soaring prices is naturally because the supply exceeds demand. Industry insiders say that by shipping 300 containers to the U.S., freight can buy the entire ship.
So why there is a sharp rise in freight rates, the biggest reason is because of the epidemic. Many vessels were detained in ports, resulting in major traffic jams at many ports, and vessels were stuck in ports, further creating a shortage of supply. In addition, many countries have suffered from the epidemic and have relied on China's industrial products, which has also promoted the huge demand for international trade and shipping.
Now the global port maritime route is staged in the century of traffic jams. As a leading enterprise in China, COSCO Shipping Co., Ltd. earned 37 billion yuan in the first half of this year, an increase of more than 30 times year-on-year.
This time the global shipping price increase, there is an old giant has also become a big winner, this family is the Bao Yugang family. After Bao Yugang died, he handed over his worldwide shipping to his eldest son-in-law, Su Haiwen. Today, Suhaiwen controls Global Shipping, one of the world's largest shipping groups, controlling 156 marine vessels, including 10 VLCC, 45 refined tankers, 15 chemical tankers, 48 LPG vessels, 21 LNG vessels and 17 maritime engineering vessels.
Global Shipping is an unlisted company, so the performance of outsiders can not know, but this year the shipping company is basically profits dozens of times, now there are ships can make money. Many people predict that this will be the case in the next two or three years, so Su Haiwen still has the opportunity to make a lot of money in the next two or three years. In fact, when it comes to the Bao Yugang family, their wealth is also greatly underestimated, if Bao Yugang does not separate the family, then it is estimated that the world's richest man is them.
Time back to 70 years ago, when Bao Yugang left Shanghai and came to Hong Kong alone to develop. When Bao Yugang was in Shanghai, he was actually a celebrity in the financial world. After arriving in Hong Kong, Bao Yugang chose to develop the shipping business. At that time, the global shipping industry was developing wildly, basically like today, with ships you can make money, and making money is almost like printing money.
At that time, many shipping companies were keen to buy ships and then make a lot of money on short leases, because such profit margins were very high. This year, Bao Yugang cobbled together $770,000, bought a cargo ship, and then leased it to a Japanese company for a long time. This decision was absolutely revolutionary for the shipping industry at the time.
Because Bao Yugang created the era of long-term rental. Although the profit margin of long-term rental is low, the income is more stable. Bao Yugang is from a financial background, so his sense of risk is very strong. Bao Yugang's development in the first few years was very slow, because long-term rent meant that the return of funds was very slow. Three years later, Bao Yu had just bought the second ship.
In the 1960s, the global oil industry developed in a spurt, and the demand for oil tankers was extremely large. Bao Yugang was optimistic about the development of this direction, so he began to borrow leverage to buy a large number of oil tankers, and then leased them to customers for a long time.
Pao yugang was supported by HSBC at the time. HSBC gave Bao Yugang a very good condition, so that Bao Yugang can have unlimited unsecured loans, with the support of HSBC, Bao Yugang's career has grown by leaps and bounds, plus it has encountered the best times. By 1970, Universal Shipping was established, and Bao Yugang was already one of the world's largest shipowners.
Bao Yugang used a common operating method in today's real estate industry, that is, to increase leverage. On the one hand, Bao Yugang used a loan to buy a ship, but on the other hand, he rented out the captain, and the difference between rent and interest was Bao Yugang's profit.
By 1977, Bao Yugang had just been in the industry for just 20 years, and by this time he was already the world's largest ship king, when his fleet exceeded 200 ships and a total tonnage of more than 13 million tons. Three years later, this figure rose to 21 million tons, which was already equivalent to the total tonnage of the Soviet fleet at that time.
However, at this time, Bao Yugang began to make a surprising decision, and he began to reduce the ship and land. In the 1970s, the world suffered an oil crisis, and oil production was greatly reduced, resulting in a large number of ships having no business to do and staying in port for a long time. Many shipping companies went bankrupt as a result.
Before the crisis, Bao Yugang had successfully sold many ships. In the 1980s, Bao Yugang accelerated his attack on ships. By 1985, Bao Yugang had just over 40 ships. Bao Yugang's precautionary layout this time allowed him to successfully avoid this crisis. At the same time, since the 1970s, Pao Yugang invested in real estate business in Hong Kong, taking his career to a higher level.
In 1985, Bao Yugang acquired his rival Wheelock and became the richest Chinese at the time. At this time, Bao Yugang's focus has shifted to real estate, but he has not given up the shipping business, because Bao Yugang knows that shipping is a cyclical industry and will come back sooner or later.
After 1985, Bao Yugang was not in good health, so he handed over the company to his son-in-law Su Haiwen. Su Haiwen is actually a European, he and Bao Yugang's eldest daughter studied in the United States, and then the two married. Su Haiwen is an excellent lawyer and a high-achieving student, and he joined Bao Yugang's company after becoming Bao Yugang's son-in-law.
Bao Yugang's landing was Su Haiwen's suggestion. Su Haiwen's vision is also absolutely amazing. After Su Haiwen took over the world shipping, he has been very conservative and has not expanded the company's business on a large scale. Su Haiwen waited until 2000, when the global shipping demand began to increase again, and Su Haiwen began to slowly increase the number of ships. Today, Global Shipping has 156 more giant ships, and they also control a number of subsidiaries, once again becoming one of the strongest shipowners in the world.
This time Su Haiwen waited for an explosive upward cycle. Su Haiwen is ready to retire, and his son Su Wengang will take over his grandfather's company in the future.