Vessel Congestion At LA Ports Soars As More Ships Join Queue

[pipedreams]

"Vessel congestion outside the busiest US gateway for trade with Asia is clogged with the most inbound container vessels in nearly six months. 

Bloomberg data shows the number of containerships queuing off the coast of Los Angeles has reached 37 on Sunday evening, that's three less than the all-time-high observed on Feb. 1. "

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/vessel-congestion-la-ports-soars-more-ships-join-queue

[Fog]

Crap from china has a way of backing up in the system.

[crockett]

37 minutes ago, pipedreams said:

"Vessel congestion outside the busiest US gateway for trade with Asia is clogged with the most inbound container vessels in nearly six months. 

Bloomberg data shows the number of containerships queuing off the coast of Los Angeles has reached 37 on Sunday evening, that's three less than the all-time-high observed on Feb. 1. "

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/vessel-congestion-la-ports-soars-more-ships-join-queue

 

 

Tell me about it. Dealing with those delays in the ports every day since my staff doesn't know how to juggle the resulting logistics nightmare.

Its not just China inbound and ports like LA, its worldwide. Inland rail hubs such as Chicago and Memphis are extremely backed up, same with air cargo, same with exports.

Below is the update I got from our freight forwarder just a couple hours ago.

 

 

Hello XXXXXXX, 

I hope you're all doing well. Some of the following information was pulled from reports sent by our Global Ocean Management team on Friday, 08/13 so some  information may have changed slightly in the interim but shipping has not gotten any less interesting. 

On the ocean front, rates have continued to climb although on certain trades there has been a bit of a "cooling" on the increases. The World Container Index is up 358% from last year and while even mid term predictions are difficult we  really don't expect any reductions prior to Q1, possibly even Q2 in 2022.  On top of anything else, schedule reliability is still below 40% whereas in 2019 it was above 70%. 

Pretty much all major steamship lines have been investing heavily in new ship builds with orders for 300 + vessels currently on the books. Once these ships come online their total volume will be equivalent to 11.7% of the current market capacity. Investments in new containers are also at a high with 5.4 Million TEU either produced or in production for 2021 (2019  = 2.8 Million TEU). 

Please note though that the majority of new ships won't come into service until 2-3 years down the line and even with their introduction and the influx of new containers, lingering issues (poor port and hinterland infrastructure, labor shortages, Covid related restrictions) in certain parts of the world still need to be solved and there isn't a silver bullet that will solve all shipping woes. Currently container shortages are also more of a by product of bottlenecks and container displacement and not necessarily a shortage in overall numbers. 

Please see below for further updates. 
Ningbo Meishan Terminal Port Closure 

        - As many of you likely have already heard, on Wednesday, August 11th @ 3:00 a.m. a worker in the Meishan Terminal in Ningbo tested positive for Covid. As a result the terminal, which accounts for 20% of the traffic in the third largest port in the         world (depending on calculation methods, largest by total tonnage) was largely shut down. 
        - There are varying statistics out there and some claim that the Ningo Port Complex has still managed to handle about 90% of normal capacity by transferring freight to other terminals but by Wednesday afternoon alone there were already 28         ships, accounting for nearly 185,000 TEU at anchor within the harbor complex. 
        -  Members of the OCEAN ALLIANCE (CMA CGM, Evergreen, OOCL, Cosco) are the most affected by the terminal closure but it is affecting all carriers and many have announce changes to their routes to avoid the increasingly congested                 complex. 
        - Per the following article, there may be a partial re-opening of the Meishan Terminal on Tuesday, August 24th and full re-opening on Wednesday, September 1st. It will take a while though for the backlogs to clear out. 
        https://splash247.com/partial-reopening-of-ningbo-terminal-scheduled-for-next-week/

TPEB  Situation / APAC in General 
        - Rates are continuing to increase, though at a slower rate and with us heading into the traditional peak season approaching and inventories in the US far behind demand and where they need to be space will remain tight.         
        - Certain SSL's (OOCL) are looking into extreme measures to offer services to the Americas (rail from Asia to the EU, and ship from EU to the US). 
        - Due to the spread of the Covid Delta Variant, several Asian Countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philliplines) have instituted new lock down measures over the past couple weeks. Some are starting to slowly re-open but shipping to / from         these countries remains difficult. Dachser offices and facilities in these countries have also had to institute new regulations and ramp back up remote work. 
        - Please try and communicate your expected volumes and allocation needs, even on a spot basis to Dachser or your TPEB carrier as well in advance as possible. Currently, at the start of each month we are discussing FAK allocations with         several partner carriers for the following month. 

TAWB 
        - Space remains tight and at least 4-6 weeks of advance booking notice is suggested. 
        - Due in part to several vessels having to be pulled out of service for maintenance, CMA CGM is not accepting any new bookings on their Victory or Liberty Bridge Service through Week 36. 
        - A crew member on the MSC Melissa tested positive for Covid in the port of Bremerhaven. Per information from MSC, they are working on sanitizing the ship and switching out the crew in the hopes that the vessel can continue it's journey later this         week. Obviously all MSC and MSK containers on this vessel are delayed though. 
        - New NAC Customers are still largely being rejected but in some cases forwarders are able to shift NAC volumes from one customer to another. Regular, predictable volumes are of much greater interest to the SSL's and forecasting is                 paramount. 

North American Ports 
        - Congestion in North American Ports and rail ramps is one of the largest contributing factors to equipment shortages overseas. 
        - Inland rail hubs such as Chicago and Memphis are extremely backed up and rail operators have started to strictly regulate rail movements to these yards. In some cases SSL's have put temporarily holds or canceled rail service from the West         Coast to East Coast destinations. 
        - For those of you in the Southeast, who regulary import through CHS and SAV, please note trucking has also become very tight and most truckers are telling us that they are booked out well into September already. Even for customers with         regular business and volumes, deliveries can be pushed back some upon arrival due to Cargo arriving in waves and vessel arrivals still deviating significantly from intended schedules. 

Air Freight 
        - According to the World ACD, air cargo volumes for the first 6 months of 2021 are back to 2019 levels and 20% over 2020. Available belly capacity on passenger flights is not yet near 2019 levels. 
        - Covid and related safety requirements continues to be an issue affecting ground handling and tarmac crews in particular. 
        - From August 3rd - Augusts 16th, Cathay Pacific even went as far as to reject all non-built up cargo for service into Chicago O'Hare (ORD). 
        - So far Shanghai Pu Dong (PVG) the largest airport closest to Ningbo hasn't seen any major fall out from the Covid  issue in the Meishan Terminial, but with peak season and Covid restrictions, rate increases, slower processing times, and                 capacity squeezes are anticipated. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-17/china-port-congestion-worsens-as-ningbo-shuts-for-seventh-day
https://www.aircargonews.net/business/supply-chains/air-cargo-faces-china-supply-chain-disruption/
https://theloadstar.com/major-shipping-delays-tie-up-millions-in-our-cashflow-say-hong-kong-bcos/
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/08/06/supply-bottlenecks-to-remain-tight-for-next-few-quarters-hapag-lloyd-ceo-says.html         
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/dienstleister/ningbo-zhoushan-der-groesste-hafen-der-welt-hat-corona/27514582.html
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/oh-no-not-ningbo-covid-case-shuts-down-container-terminal?utm_content=176146461&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-2040505

 

[Huaco Kid]

Teamsters own this country.