The U.S. Department of Labor announced on November 6 that the number of the non-agriculture section employees of October rose 271,000. The unemployment rate falls to 5.0% and this is the lowest figure for the first time in 7.5 years since April 2004. It shows that the real economy in the United States is powerful. According to these U.S. employment statistics the possibility of the rise in interest rates which Ms. Janet Yellen, chairperson mentioned is finally more likely. As a result, Japanese yen is getting weak rapidly. U.S. dollar and yen situation was stable around $1.00=Yen 120 but yen is becoming weak for the first time in 2.5 year.
Chinese Office for National Statistics announced that the business perception of Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of October was 49.8. It fell below 50 for 3 consecutive months. The China’s economy has been encountering difficult these days. Real estate recession, a decrease in production by the overproduction, production line stop and an export slump. It will depend on China’s economy how China can perform a soft-landing of their own country economy.
On the other hand, European Union (EU) considers that the euro economy of the next year continues slow recovery. In addition, they think the issue of refugee inflow will bring the positive effect to economic growth. The current conditions of the shipping circle of this year let us have optimistic expectation from the beginning of the year to the Chinese lunar New Year. However, container demand had not been much strong after 2nd quarter and the summer peak demand made us disappointed.
Leasing companies placed an order for container makers by considerable force in the first half of the year but demand didn’t come out other than they thought so they came to hold a large number of new containers in the factories. Therefore, leasing companies had entered into the price competition to acquire long term lease from shipping lines and they have invited a predicament by the slump of the leasing rate by themselves.
Some shipping companies have still left most of their new containers in the factory. In addition, some shipping companies didn’t seem to have been able to finish yet taking the long-term lease containers from the lease companies which decided on the first half of this year. Therefore, they will have to carry over most of their own and long terms containers next year.
Shipping companies have been revising the income and expenditure downward by slump of cargo movement and freight rate drop by the loading capacity oversupply. The news was suddenly reported that Maersk Line will reduce 4,000 out of 23,000, land employees of the whole world as a series of their rationalization plan. They will anticipate reduction of $250 million in the next 2 years. They decided to cancel 6×19,630TEU ships and 2×3,600TEU ships which have already announced to build before and will postpone 8×14,000TEU ship at the same time, the Shipping Guide reports. Japanese 3 major shipping companies are no exception. They revised full-year expectation downward again in the end of October.
3 Japanese Lines’ Business Section Result
| March Priod 2015 Result | Prospect for Mar 2016 announced Oct end | ||
| NYK | Sales | 6,963 | 7,400 |
| Ordinary Profit | 98 | 155 | |
| MOL | Sales | 7,870 | 8 |
| Ordinary Profit | -241 | -280 | |
| K Line | Sales | 6,774 | 6,500 |
| Ordinary Profit | 206 | -30 | |
| unit:100 million yen | |||
Each leasing companies has a great number of depot stock in China and Asia than before these days. They will have to realize that their depot stock will increase more because of dull season of winter.
The number of the new containers in China factories are beyond one million TEU. The new container price seems to fall to $1,550 per 20f. Each factory has stopped the production lines and adjusted their production sequentially. Therefore it may be expected that some confusion happens for the production reopening at the time of the new big ordering.
In addition, it is said that the export from South China has been decreasing sharply this year. The main reason of decreasing export from South China is the lockout of the toymakers which was a main export item. There are the present conditions that some export items have been shifting to Southeast Asia from China. A structural change has been happening in the export system in China. It is necessary for shipping companies, the lease companies to take steps against this change immediately. Shipping companies and the lease companies cannot but go in future in a severer winter season. I really wish such energy borne under adverse circumstances to be connected to innovation which will bring them for next development.
It is only around 40 days left before closing the year of 2015. For my memory it is the sense that I celebrated New Year a few days ago. Anyway, I feel like time fly really quick. I really sympathize now what old people used to grieve it in the days of my teens. The time does not wait for a man and it treats us equally. It engrave same time into a rich, a poor and any man. However, when I say in a law learned by experience, it engraves different time into a man at time and it ticks away different time in a scene and a scene. Sometimes it is long and is short.
I believe there are many people who felt that time moved slower than you felt, saying “ Is that still such time?” when you concentrate on something. On the other hand, time passes when harried up by something. A man goes on the defensive and controlled by time when a man is run by time. Therefore, it is necessary to control time well. We should make a plan beforehand and we assign time for time by ourselves. Then we accomplish a certain work and target. We repeat this again and again, day after day. You may feel that you could feel to control time in due course.
Along our script of the life design we assign time to its outline, of course our script is transferred to the outline which match ourselves at that time. It is necessary for us to feel that we take possession of time even at the moment. I think that time of instant and accumulation of control of time of instant. We are scriptwriters and are a director in this sense. In that way we could see our way when we have been thinking about our work, a script of the life, direction for dozens of years. We come to know naturally what we must do by ourselves. We could understand how to allocate time. Of course we decide priority. We control time along it. We could see the flow of things which we are concerned with when we do it with dozens of years. I can choose the best for oneself in that. Therefore, I should not be chased by time but I have made a creed of controlling time. I want to work hard to become a good scriptwriter and a director sequentially.