Shipping costs have been rising steadily since Autumn 2020. The first few months of 2021 have seen price surges across numerous freight rates along primary trade routes, with prices for some trade lanes tripling as compared to last year. What caused container freight rate to rise so much? Figure : Shanghai containerized freight index, weekly spot rates, 18 December 2009–9 April 2021 Continuing Global Imbalances From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, imbalances in goods production and demand built up as countries locked down and reopened at different times. The problem was aggravated by shipping companies reducing capacity on major routes along with a shortage of empty freight containers. Global demand has experienced strong recovery, with a subsequent increase in competition for ocean freight capacity. Lack of Alternatives Alternatives to ocean transpor­ta­tion are few. Shipments of higher value products by train or air would usually be an option but limited capacity and spiking tariffs are proving to be an issue. The shipments of lower value products have seen increases in freight costs from an average of 5% up to a massive 20%. Absorbing increases of this scale is difficult and so consumers are likely to be impacted. Unbalanced Recovery While some countries are already exporting more products than before the pandemic, exports from others continue to lag behind the overall increase. This unbalanced rate of recovery will continue to compound world trade issues, including in terms of the displacement of empty containers. Reduced Blank Sailings Though global capacity on major routes has generally recovered to levels before lockdowns began, blank sailings have continued to cut 10% of scheduled capacity in Q1 of 2021. Cancel­lations have been partly due to delays and so the continued congestion within the system may result in shipping capacity being reduced at short notice. Port Congestion and Closures As suggested by the link between delays and cancelled sailings, congestion is a major problem. The rate of vessels keeping to schedules has dropped, accompanied by a rise in the delays of late vessels. Overall performance is at its lowest in a decade of records.

Gravure composite ink is widely used in the printing of food, medicine, calendar and other products. The effect of vinyl resin on gravure composite ink. It has good ester solubility and good compatibility with polyurethane.Ternary hydroxyl vinyl chloride resin can resist boiling and cooking, has excellent dispersibility to pigments, and provides composite strength. High temperature and boiling resistant intaglio plastic composite ink is made of vinyl resin and polyurethane as binder, a series of special additives and organic solvents, and organic pigments with high temperature resistance, which are evenly stirred, dispersed, grinded and bonded. It is suitable for printing in low-speed to high-speed plastic films. The substrates are usually PET, BOPP, NYLON (nylon) and aluminized composite plastic films. The printed products can be used not only in common composite process, but also in high-temperature cooking process. The ink film solvent residue is low, odorless, non-toxic, environmentally friendly and safe, and can be used in food and drug packaging, which meets the hygienic requirements. High temperature and boiling resistance intaglio plastic composite ink has the following characteristics: (1) High adhesion fastness, suitable for a variety of printing films; (2) Low viscosity, good leveling, high solid content, bright color, high color concentration,suitable for multi-layer printing; (3) Good printing adaptability, good ink transfer, suitable for different machine speed and plate depth; (4) Printing can resist high-temperature cooking, generally, when one component is used, it can be boiled up to (90-100), (100-120), (3-4%) curing agent is added to two-component printing, which can improve the high-temperature resistance, film-forming performance, printing adaptability and composite fastness of printing ink.

We all know that surface printing ink must emphasize their luster as the film can not be supplemented by light. However, polyamide resin has a problem with residual solvent. Because the plastic gravure printing process is mainly by hot air to dry, hot air to dry the ink surface, the drying mechanism is from the outside dry, from the outside in, gradually dry out. But since the outside dries first, the membrane forms first. The formation of this layer of film, although to avoid the next color group printing ink stick, but also prevent the inner layer of solvent emission. Therefore, the use of polyamide resin ink printing, in order to make the ink thoroughly dry, the hot air should be properly opened larger, the speed can not be too fast. To remove as much residual solvent as possible. Otherwise, we often meet this situation in our daily production. A roll of finished products printed down, packaged into the box, after a period of time to open, a pungent smell on the face, this is often recruited to customer complaints of residual odor problem. To solve this problem, we suggest that on the basis of not changing the ink, take the following measures: 1. Appropriately increase the drying temperature, slow down the speed, so that the solvent volatilization is sufficient; 2. Check the exhaust gas system of gravure printing machine, check the air inlet pressure and the air outlet pressure, refer to the data provided by the printing machine manufacturer, make the pressure difference as large as possible. Sometimes, the heat has been opened too much, but the smell is still there, at this time, it is necessary to check the wind pressure, if only the temperature and no qualified wind pressure, the solvent is still not very good volatile. Pay attention to check whether the air duct is smooth. In the days of low pressure, the exhaust system itself can not meet the process requirements, then we should check the rationality of the exhaust system. If you have any problems when you are producing ink, pls let us know. Then we will give you reply timely.

Wax powders can be used in UV inks, mainly for matting, non-absorbing, and non-foaming effects. In the UV ink industry, matting powder is generally used to achieve the matting effect. The disadvantage is that the matting powder has a great influence on the viscosity of the UV ink. The small holes in the surface absorb the solvent in the UV ink. When the solvent is absorbed into the matting powder, the UV ink itself will become viscous and even agglomerate, and as time goes on, the caking problem and the performance of the UV ink The impact is getting bigger and bigger. The special wax powder of UV ink has no effect on the viscosity of UV ink, the stirring process does not foam, no defoaming agent is used at all, no need to circle, save time and worry, and the risk is low. In addition, micro-powder wax is widely used in printing inks, paints and coatings for its excellent performance, which can improve the surface scratch resistance, wear resistance, increase slip, improve anti-sticking and anti-staining properties, and inhibit printing ink. The glossiness, preventing pigment settling, and the production of high-performance matt inks and paints with matt powder, become an indispensable important additive in the production of paints and inks. Our wax micro powders have a wide variety and a huge effect. It is called industrial MSG and plays an important role in industrial production.