Throughout the industry disruptions continue to abound. From labor disputes in Montreal to a logjam in the Suez Canal. Yep. ItĄ¯s a mess.
LAX/LGB port congestion continues and is expected to get worse before it gets better. The port just canĄ¯t handle the volume coming in. Vessels continue to sit in the harbor awaiting berthing space to unload. Cosco advised this week that dwell times at the port for containers moving inland on the rail can be as long as 60 days. Some carriers are refusing bookings to inland ramps entirely, while rail ramps in areas like Chicago struggle to handle the current volume.
Importers trying to avoid the backlog in LAX/LGB are routing through other U.S. ports creating congestion and space constraints at ports throughout North America. From some origins, space to the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and the USEC is already booked up through the of April. Advising suppliers to book only to ports other than LAX/LGB is not really a solution as that restriction will delay cargo leaving most ports in Asia, and in turn contribute to a similar delay in receiving goods. The best recommation, which is clearly not optimal, is to further buffer the supply chain timeline and advise clients and colleagues that for the foreseeable future, this is the reality.
Worldwide, we are seeing severe vessel delays and frequent omitted port calls keeping transit time reliability at an all-time low. Space and equipment are becoming even more difficult to secure and we expect the situation to get worse for at least the next month. We are already seeing many origins where premium service is again becoming required in order to get space on desired sailings.
The significant volume coming into the U.S. is not expected to abate anytime soon. Importers should expect the current landscape to remain well into the fall as retailers project that increased consumer sping will continue at the current pace through much of the year.
Current space situation from China - Shanghai- space is full. PSW already overbooked till the mid of April. USEC/PNW are fully booked till the of April. Many blank sailings and COSCO/CEN service continuous omit call SHA. - Ningbo- space is fully booked through mid-April, especially for USEC & GULF & PNW. COSCO donĄ¯t accept heavy goods for 20GP. - Nanjing-space is fully booked through mid-April. The space for PNW & USEC is difficult to secure. - Qingdao- space is full through mid-April especially for PNW & USEC. - Dalian ¨C GULF & PNW is super full, due to omit call DL and the vessels canĄ¯t come back to DL on time. - Tianjin ¨Cspace to GULF & PNW is full till early April. - Hong Kong/Shenzhen- space is full till the of April - Zhongshan- space is booked through mid-April. Pearl River Delta is still facing serious equipment shortage. - Fujian: Fuzhou- space is overbooked through the of April. - Xiamen- space is fully booked through mid-April. MSC is facing equipment shortage. - Taiwan: space is fully booked till WK14. Space for USWC is super full due to vessels canĄ¯t able come back to origins on time. - Vietnam: Both space & equipment are becoming more & more scarce- especially to USEC. Shortage of equipment (40/40HQ): MSC/ZIM/CMA are facing extremely shortage of 40/40HQ - Malaysia: Vessels are constantly delayed or omitting ports altogether. - Thailand: Booked up through mid-April. - Indonesia: Booked up through mid-April.
Please remind your shippers to book 4-6 weeks in advance of cargo ready dates in order to have the best possible chance of securing highly coveted equipment and space.
We will continue to keep you d on the market situation throughout this unprecedented
