Congestion has built up around the Chinese ports of Shanghai, Ningbo and Qingdao over the past week, pushing up the number of containerships waiting at Chinese anchorages to 850,000 teu – the highest levels seen since September. The situation could worsen with rising Covid infection rates across Chinese cities after the government eased restrictions, affecting the availability of labor and port handling productivity. Congestion is expected to remain elevated over the coming weeks as Chinese wor
Global port congestion is trending down with the delays at US and European ports easing gradually on slowing cargo demand and improved terminal operations. With the threat of the US rail strike now averted, further improve-ments are expected even with the ILWU dockworker contract negotiations on the US West Coast still unresolved. Congestion in North Asia has however edged up with a heavy build up of ships in the Bohai region, with longer waiting times at Qingdao and Busan. The South Korean tru
Global port congestion continues to ease, although the number of ships waiting at anchor at Chinese ports would have fallen more if not for some 9 ships of over 10,000 teu that are currently idle at various North Asia locations. These ships are not waiting to berth and have been temporarily idled as carriers are forced to remove excess capacity due to the softening market demand. However, most of these ships are scheduled to return to service within the next 2 weeks with carriers still reluctan
Global port congestion increased marginally to 2.79m teu at the end of last week compared to 2.70m teu a week ago, but the overall trend remains on a downward trajectory as congestion is starting to ease across the main hotspots in the US and Europe. There was a small increase in ships waiting at Chinese ports, especially around Qingdao where strong winds shut down terminal operations last week while Ningbo depot operations in the Beilun area were affected by COVID lockdown restrictions. There
Global port congestion eased to a 10 month low, with both the US and China ports recording lower congestion levels. In the US West Coast, the congestion at Los Angeles and Long Beacj have been almost fully cleared, with only 2 out of the 13 LA/LB terminals still facing any material congestion. Vessels calling at MOL’s Trapac and NYK’s YTI are still facing extended delays but the queues at other terminals have all fully cleared, with the average berthing delays not less than 2 days. Congestion
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