Europe’s container hubs have used the extra week of delayed ship arrivals to prepare their onshore facilities for a surge in containers, according to one carrier. Concentrated in Hong Kong, but the above response does not seem to be effective.
Container shipping companies have unloaded cargo imported from Asia wherever possible so that ships can turn around from Northern Europe back to Asia as soon as possible. In Asia, high-priced slots have been sold out for weeks.
Under the current situation, carriers will notify importers of good news that their delayed goods have been unloaded, but they will also tell them bad news – the goods have been unloaded. At other ports, even worse, carriers have no way of confirming when cargo will be transferred.
A shipping company source told Loadstar that the cargoes are currently facing “a storm”.
He said: “We do not have time or any spare capacity to transship cargo, there are no idle ships in the market and our feeder operators are full.”
Meanwhile, a source at a feeder operator told Loadstar: “We are struggling with already delayed turnaround times that are so far beyond compliance that it is a disaster,” he said.
Federal shipping lines have imposed a congestion surcharge on transshipments at the Port of Rotterdam since November last year, but the company claims that carriers will not accept the surcharge.
He said: “There is no point talking to them now because they will not accept the surcharge, but if the situation does not improve quickly, we will go back to them.”
Moreover, container ship owners are also increasing pressure on feeder ship operators. Traditionally, feeder vessels have been chartered for relatively short periods to provide maximum flexibility, but owners are now finalizing longer charter periods at much higher day rates.
Congestion at Benelux hub ports has also delayed inland barge operations. According to operator Contargo, the average waiting time for its barges today was 34 hours in Rotterdam and 41 hours in Antwerp.
The regional operator said: “We do not expect any improvement in the situation over the next four to six weeks.” It added that even after four to six weeks, its resources would be will face “significant pressure”.
Nevertheless, the strategy of shipping airlines in Northern Europe to take all necessary measures to return their ships to sail as soon as possible will result in the resumption of sailings earlier than for ships anchored outside the originally designated ports, because These ports have since become overcrowded.
According to an analysis by seintelligence, the negative impact of the Suez Canal shutdown on Asia-Europe trade capacity will end in the 22nd week after the nine-week interruption.
Seintelligence chief executive Alan Murphy said: “Essentially all the impact (of the Suez Canal disruption) will be removed by early June, which will It is an inevitable trend in Asia-Europe trade.”
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