Port congestion is no longer providing any supply side support as congestion is easing across Asia and North America. Congestion at the main Eastern China ports of Shanghai and Ningbo, as well as in Bohai and South Korea dropped to half of their previous week’s highs, as the backlog of ships delayed by the North Asia typhoons of the past 2 weeks were gradually cleared up. The reduction in congestion in North Asia ports has brought down global congestion levels to 10.9% at the end of last week,
The after-effects of typhoon Hinnamnor has resulted in a large build up of ships waiting at Shanghai, Ningbo and Busan even though the congestion has started to clear by the end of the week. There has not been any material improvement in the congestion situation at the other main regions.
The increase in Chinese port congestion last week drove global congestion levels from 12.2% to 13.0% of the containership fleet.
European port congestion picked up over the past week especially in Rotterdam where the number of vessels waiting at anchorage rising very quickly while yard capacity utilization has reached critical levels. Barge traffic has been affected by low water on the Rhine as well as diversions from UK to avoid the Felixstowe port strike. This is relieving congestion at ports further downstream, with German ports seeing a slight reduction in the vessel queues. There were no material change in the numb
Global port congestion spike up last week on the back of an increase in congestion in South China due to the typhoons that hit the region last week. Typhoon Mulan disrupted port operations in South China last week, with vessel congestion building up over the past week. The situation has already started to ease with ports expected to clear the backlog within the coming week. There was no increase in port congestion in the Taiwan/Fujian despite the tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Container traff
The rising tensions across the Taiwan Strait last week has not resulted in any increase in port congestion in the region. Ports in Taiwan and Fujian saw no increase in container vessels waiting to berth, with vessel operations remaining smooth throughout the past week. Vessel traffic across the Taiwan Strait were largely unaffected despite China’s military exercise last week, with no material containership diversions or port omissions detected. Overall congestion at Chinese ports have continued
Global port congestion receded slightly last week, with improvements in China offset by the worsening delays at North American ports while there is no significant change in the situation in Europe. North American ports currently account for 39% of the global congestion, outpacing the rest of the main regions with North Asia’s share reduced to 24% while Europe/Med ports remain at 19%. The 3 main regions account for 82% of global congestion, with no major flare up in the congestion situation in
Vessel congestion at the port of Oakland increased over the past week as trucker protests against California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5). If protests continue into this week, vessel queues will lengthen further as carriers will not be able to divert cargo already loaded for Oakland at short notice. However, as Oakland accounts for less than 8% of total container volumes in the US West Coast, the impact will not significantly affect overall North American congestion unless the protests spread to Los
Congestion at European ports are also inching upwards, with rapidly deteriorating conditions in Northern Europe cancelling out the recent improvements at Med ports. The situation especially bad at German ports which have been hit by a 48 hour strike on 14-16 July. It follows a 24 hour walkout on 23 June and an one-shift warning strike on 9 June with dockworkers unable to reach an agreement on their demands for higher pay after 6 rounds on negotiations. Vessels queues are already very high espe
Global port congestion increased again last week to reach 13.3% as at 3 July, with total capacity waiting to berth reaching 3.39m teu compared to 2.95m teu a week ago.