The U.S. shipping deadlock is like a “whack-a-mole game” and it will take half a year to lift the port jam
Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, California, described the current U.S. shipping deadlock at the port as “the game of Whac-a-Mole.”
“All of a sudden we’re dealing with one thing and then three more,” Seroka said, after reviewing the progress made in recent weeks in reducing the number of containers on site and the number of ships waiting to be offloaded. “We still have a long way to go and no one can declare victory.
As of yesterday, the number of ships waiting for berths outside the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reached a record 104, up from 86 in mid-November when the new ship queuing system was implemented. The current average waiting time for anchoring is 20.7 days, which is close to the peak of 20.9 days set in early December.
In addition, data from the Port of Los Angeles shows that the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach handled a total of 765,963 TEUs of inbound containers in November, which was the lowest handling volume since June 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 9.6%, and a month-on-month decrease. 10.1%.
Why are there more and more ships but fewer and fewer containers entering the port? Seroka said that in order to try to avoid the supply chain crisis, cargo owners no longer want to wait for positions on large container ships, and are increasingly using smaller ships for transportation.
But the problem is that while using smaller ships speeds up shipping, it’s slower for ports to unload and process.
Shipping companies shift route services from the West to the East
Severe berthing delays at West America terminals, coupled with intermodal delays and soaring transportation costs, have led to supply chain uncertainty and prompted shipping companies to reconsider route arrangements.
Last month, MSC moved its independent transpacific service Santana from the West to the East to meet continued strong demand on the route. Yesterday, MSC stated that after the successful transfer of Santana service, it will add the Port of Houston to the service rotation route to better serve the local market.
According to Alphaliner data, the new Santana service now calls at Hai Phong in northern Vietnam and the Chinese ports of Shanghai and Ningbo, deploying 10 ships of 4,300-6,500teu, with a turnaround of 10 weeks.
These severe delays at West Coast ports have resulted in blank sailings for some transpacific carriers and delayed the launch of Clipper service.
The latest data from New York consulting firm BlueAlphaCapital provides further evidence of the coastal shift of U.S. imports from the West Coast to the East Coast.
In October, import volumes from the top ten container hub ports in the United States showed that East Coast ports performed better than West Coast ports, with a total of 1,078,817teu of container cargo unloaded from docked ships, compared with 1,057,045teu for West Coast ports.
For East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, this represents a healthy 7.9% year-over-year growth, while West Coast ports saw import throughput decline 4.8% year-over-year.
Industry veteran John DMcown said: “October is the fifth month in a row that the performance of West Coast and East Coast ports has been polarized, with the East Coast performing significantly better.”
Meanwhile, Hapag-Lloyd announced that its Atlantic Loop 3 service between Northern Europe and the U.S. East Coast has resumed calls at the Port of Savannah after temporarily canceling it due to earlier congestion.
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