Container waiting times approaching new high, says K+N

CONTAINER waiting times are approaching a new high, according to Kuehne+Nagel's new sea freight disruption indicator, which reflects a waiting time and scale of 11.6 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) days. This compares with a "normal" benchmark of less than one million TEU waiting days, said K+N on Thursday (Jan 20). Compared with data from last Christmas, the multiplier is 15 per cent higher.

Otto Schacht, executive vice-president of Sea Logistics, told The Business Times: "The situation is not getting any better at all, and that's despite the fact that Christmas is now over. Waiting times for container ships used to be for one or two days at most. 80 per cent of the congestion is currently caused by the US."

The Seaexplorer disruption indicator shows the cumulative TEU waiting times in days in the ports of Prince Rupert, Vancouver/Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Savannah, Hong Kong area, Shanghai/Ningbo area, and the Rotterdam/Antwerp area.

The indicator is calculated based on vessel capacity and days to enter a port. So one vessel with 10,000 TEU capacity waiting 12 days to enter a port equals 120,000 TEU waiting days.

According to K+N, about 80 per cent of the disruption is associated with North American ports.

The East Coast in New York and Savannah, and the situation is even more devastating on the West Coast in Seattle and Long Beach/Los Angeles. At least 90 ships are waiting for clearance off the coast of Southern California, according to K+N's Seaexplorer tracking system.

Even more of a problem for the country is the shortage of truck drivers - because steel boxes cannot leave the port area, blockages occur there time and again. Ships are thus prevented from unloading their goods.

However, the effects are by no means limited to North America. Because the steel boxes are tied up at sea, they are also missing for transport in Europe. This, in turn, is also upsetting schedules in Rotterdam, Antwerp or Hamburg, said K+N.