116 major ports in the world are in congestion, and hundreds of container ships are stranded in ports
A map released by seapexplorer, a container transportation platform created by logistics giant Kuehne + Nagel, highlights the current situation of ultra-high pressure in container ports around the world.
As of yesterday afternoon, 328 ships were stranded in ports around the world, and 116 ports reported problems such as congestion.
Data from seapexplorer a month ago showed that 101 ports were congested and 304 ships were affected. It is obvious that congestion has further intensified.
In the past month, as the backlog of Yantian in South China has been gradually cleared up, one of the significant changes is that the number of vessels waiting outside the ports of Singapore, the Asian transshipment port, and Los Angeles and long beach, the two largest maritime portals of the United States, has doubled.
According to the latest statistics, there are 18 ships queuing off the coast of Los Angeles, with an average waiting time of nearly five days. According to the data of the pacific merchant shipping association, the average detention time of containers at the Los Angeles Long Beach terminal in June was 4.76 days, up from 3.96 days last month.
Griff Lynch, executive director of Georgia port authority, said that strong demand for imported goods is likely to continue until 2022. Because during the unbalanced rebound of the epidemic, enterprises scrambled to rebuild their inventories.
The shortage of transport capacity has pushed up the shipping rate to four times that before the epidemic.
Congestion spread to ports all over the world, and transport capacity is tight again
At the end of May, Yantian Port suffered an epidemic, resulting in the shutdown of some docks for 4 weeks. In recent weeks, ports in many other countries and regions are also under great pressure due to the rampant epidemic.
For example, since last Sunday, ports in southern Vietnam have been blocked due to the epidemic, and more and more vessels are waiting to dock.
Since July 18, Union Pacific, the largest railway operator in the United States, has suspended the transportation of containers from West Coast ports (Los Angeles / Long Beach, Auckland, Seattle and Tacoma) to inland, especially Chicago, for seven days.
Chicago is the largest railway hub in the United States and has been at the center of the spread of railway network congestion. It is reported that some containers have been stranded in Chicago for six or seven weeks.
One reflection of the overburden of the U.S. rail network is the sharp increase in the number of imported container transshipments from the west coast to the Midwest. Trucking is also tight, with shippers reporting supplier embargoes, restrictions and surcharges to control capacity, which are common in the parcel and carload industries.
However, the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (pmsa), which represents us west coast liner companies and maritime terminals, expressed concern about the suspension.
Pmsa said the suspension would exacerbate the current cargo backlog at the terminals, which would lead to the continued berthing of railway cargo at the terminals, thereby aggravating congestion.
"Considering the recent interruption of Yantian port, port congestion and rising freight rates may become the main theme in the first half of 22 years. There is always a risk of further outbreaks in major hub ports, especially in view of the prevalence of new virus variants. " Drury warned in a recent report.
"The situation has not improved, which is worrying," said turloch Mooney, deputy director of maritime and trade at IHS Markit
"The reliability of shipping schedule is still far lower than that before the epidemic. Considering the rapid growth of freight volume, the full load operation of many terminals and the continuous problem of equipment relocation, it is difficult to see a substantial improvement in the situation in the short term. "
