Congestion of container ships outside the two ports of Los Angeles – Long Beach (USA) has not improved in the past week, while ports from China to Germany face a new COVID-19 outbreak and some restrictions. another, disrupting global trade flows.
According to officials overseeing maritime traffic in San Pedro Bay, as of June 23, a total of 13 container ships were waiting to dock at the port of Los Angeles – Long Beach (California state), up from 12 returning ships. one week ago.
Congestion of container ships at America’s busiest trade gateway has persisted since late last year, peaking in early February with about 40 vessels waiting at anchor. Bloomberg let me know.
The incident also occurred at the same time that many ports in major trading centers such as China and Germany were facing the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the global trade flow was therefore also more or less disrupted.
In the next three days, it is expected that about 13 other container ships will arrive at the port of Los Angeles – Long Beach, of which 5 will be anchored waiting to dock.
Port of Los Angeles data shows that the average waiting time to dock is 5.7 days, compared with 4.6 days at the beginning of June. The average waiting time peaked in April this year, about 8 days.
Early on June 24, Yantian International Port (Shenzhen) said that all terminals at this port, which are part of the Shenzhen port system in southern China, will officially reopen on June 25. /6 after the epidemic is under control.
In early June, the number of COVID-19 infections in Guangdong province (China) increased rapidly. Guangdong authorities had to impose a blockade of districts and ask businesses to suspend operations to prevent the virus from spreading.
The epidemic suppression policy of Guangdong province has caused shipments at many major ports to be delayed. Sea freight rates are already very high and waiting times at the port are increasingly “escalating”.
Share with CNBC At that time, Brian Glick, CEO of supply chain management firm Chain.io emphasized: “The disruption in the two cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou (Guangdong province) is extremely severe. These two cities alone can have an unprecedented impact on the supply chain.”
Guangdong province accounts for about 24% of China’s total exports. It is also home to the two ports of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, which are the world’s third and fifth largest ports by container traffic, respectively, according to the World Shipping Council.
Shehrina Kamal, vice president of consulting firm Everstream Analytics, said the wait time for ships to dock at Yantian has jumped from an average of half a day to 16 days. The Nansha Port in Guangzhou is experiencing a similar situation.
Earlier this month, AP Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, said it had skipped stops at the port of Hamburg (Germany) because of “high density of containers parked at yards and long waiting times”.
Due to the disruption of container ships worldwide, the World Container Index released by consulting firm Drewry on May 27 shows that the ocean freight for a 40-foot container from Shanghai (China) ) to Rotterdam (Netherlands) touched USD 10,174, up 3.1% from last week and jumping 485% over the same period last year.
Compared to the previous week, the composite index of eight major sea lanes increased 2% to $6,257. Compared to the same period last year, this index grew by 293%. Both indexes are at their highest levels since 2011, Drewry noted.
