Currently, container port congestion is becoming increasingly serious on all continents.
Clarkson’s Container Port Congestion Index shows that as of last Thursday, 36.2% of the global fleet was stuck in ports, up from 31.5% between 2016 and 2019 before the epidemic. Clarkson noted in its latest weekly report that the U.S. East Coast Congestion in has recently risen to near record levels.
German carrier Hapag-Lloyd released an updated operations report on Friday that highlighted the myriad congestion issues facing carriers and shippers around the world.
Container ports on all continents are severely congested
Asia: Major Chinese port terminals such as Ningbo, Shenzhen and Hong Kong will face pressure from yard and berth congestion due to the ongoing epidemic and seasonal typhoons.
According to reports, among other major ports in Asia, the storage yard density in Singapore reaches 80%, while the storage yard density in Busan, South Korea’s largest port, is even higher, reaching 85%.
Europe: The start of the summer vacation, rounds of strikes, rising COVID-19 cases and an influx of ships from Asia have created congestion at many ports, including Antwerp, Hamburg, Le Havre and Rotterdam.
Latin America: Ongoing nationwide protests have hampered port operations in Ecuador, while further north, a cyberattack on Costa Rica’s customs system two months ago is still causing trouble, while Mexico is worst affected by the spread of port congestion In one country, many ports are reportedly experiencing yard densities as high as 90%, causing severe delays.
North America: Reports of terminal delays have dominated shipping news headlines throughout the pandemic and remain concerning heading into July.
US East: Berth wait times in New York/New Jersey exceeded 19 days, while Savannah saw berth wait times of seven to 10 days, near record levels.
West America: On July 1, negotiations between dock workers in the West Coast and the West Coast failed without reaching an agreement, which cast a shadow over the slowdowns and strikes at the West Coast docks. From January to June this year, U.S. imports from Asia increased by 4%, while imports via the West United States fell by 3%. The proportion of the United States’ imports from the West to the entire U.S. also fell from 58% last year to 54%.
Canada: Vancouver faces “significant delays” due to limited rail availability, according to Hapag-Lloyd, while yard density reaches 90%. Meanwhile, terminal utilization at Prince Rupert is as high as 113 per cent, with average rail dwell times currently at 17 days. The detention was mainly due to lack of available rolling stock.
Statistics analyzed by Copenhagen-based Sea-Intelligence show that as of the end of May, 9.8% of the global fleet was unavailable due to supply chain delays, down from a peak of 13.8% in January and down from 10.7% in April.
While ocean freight rates remain incredibly high, spot freight rates will remain on a downward trend for much of 2022.
The three major alliances canceled a total of 61 voyages
According to the latest report from a well-known foreign supply chain logistics and technology platform, as ocean freight spot prices plummet and container demand declines year-on-year, carriers have taken action to protect profitability.
In addition, the platform’s report pointed out that more and more shipping companies are switching ships to “more profitable” routes, making some route transactions become “ghost” services without designated ships.
According to the latest data released by Drewry on Friday, the world’s three major shipping alliances have canceled a total of 61 voyages in the next five weeks (weeks 27-31). Among them, the 2M Alliance and THE Alliance have canceled the most voyages, both reaching 23 voyages; the Ocean Alliance, which has the least cancellations, has canceled 15 voyages.
Of a total of 760 scheduled sailings on major trans-Pacific, trans-Atlantic, Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean routes, 86 sailings were canceled between weeks 27 and 31, a cancellation rate of 11%.
During this period, 66% of blank sailings will occur on the eastbound trans-Pacific trade route, primarily to the U.S. West Coast, according to Drewry data for this issue.
According to data from Easy Shipping Schedule Statistics, compared with the data from June to July 2021, the total number of suspended sailings from June to July 2022 is approximately three times that of last year. It is not difficult to see from the proportion of canceled sailings in planned voyages that compared with last year, planned voyages are increasing and the proportion of suspended sailings is also rising.
From a regional perspective, the proportion of sailing suspensions in the US-Western region has increased significantly. From the perspective of the alliance, the proportion of suspended flights has increased by about 10% except for 2M.
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