Total containership capacity waiting at anchorages edged up slightly at the end of last week to 1.61m teu or 5.8% of the global fleet with a slight build up of ships in China with the start of the Golden Week holidays. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has reduced the number of vessel passage from 32 per day currently to 31 from 1 November 2023. The current restriction are already reduced from the normal limit of 36 transits per day have been imposed since 30 July 2023. These restrictions have n
Global port congestion has dipped below 5% of the total fleet at the end of last week and is expected to continue to fall over the next 8 weeks, with container vessel traffic at China to slow down for the Chinese Golden Week holidays that will start on 1 October 2023. The fall in congestion in China in October would carry over to the US and Europe with vessel arrivals to be reduced over the coming 2 months. The total containership capacity currently anchored and waiting for berthing at the mai
The severe weather in North Asia and US East Coast pushed up port congestion numbers last week. Conditions across all of North Asia were affected the onslaught of typhoons Haikui in South China and Khanun in Central and Northern China with waiting times of up to 3 days due to the disruptions to port operations in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Kaohsiung, Ningbo and Busan. However, the congestion has already started to clear in North Asia by the end of last week with terminals and gate operations all rep
Global port congestion has dropped to a 3 month low of just 5% of the global fleet waiting at anchorages around the world, with conditions in the 3 main regions in North America, North Asia and Europe all showing continued improvements. No major congestion hotspots have developed after the labour issues at the North America west coast ports are resolved and the after-effects of the recent typhoons have also started to clear out. The situation at the Panama Canal remains under control, with no
Congestion at Asia ports have cleared gradually after heavy rain in early August from typhoon Doksoru and Khanun caused flooding across multiple North Asian regions. Southern California ports were also hit by Hurricane Hilary over the weekend, but port operations were not materially impacted with both the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach to re-open on 21 August after the partial shutdown the day before. There were no containerships waiting at the San Pedro Bay anchorage, and no buildup in po
Port congestion is clearing up gradually across all main regions, with North American ports recording the biggest improvements although the severe weather conditions in Northeast China in the wake of typhoon Doksuri will have a negative impact on congestion in China in the coming week. The port labour dispute in Canada has officially ended on 4 August after workers in British Columbia accepted the new labour contract ending more than a month of uncertainty that had affected all cargo handled at
The on-off dockworker strike in Canada’s Pacific coast ports is expected to finally end after the ILWU Canada caucus approved the tentative deal on 21 July, with the results of its membership vote expected by 28 July 2023. Port operations have resumed on 19 July, but the vessel backlog remains to be cleared with 10 containerships still waiting at Vancouver and 2 ships at Prince Rupert with vessel waiting times of up to 14 days. Congestion at the rest of North American ports are largely checked
The dockworkers strike at Canada’s west coast ports that started on 1 July 2023 has not resulted in any rise in congestion numbers so far although this could change if the strike persists. There are 9 ships scheduled to arrive at the 2 Canadian West Coast ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert in the next 2 days. Overall port congestion across the Puget Sound ports including Seattle and Tacoma has not seen any significant change since the strike started over the weekend. Of the other ports in th
Container port congestion remained steady over the past week, with the total capacity tied up at anchorages at 1.7m teu or 6.4% of the fleet. There has been no significant changes across the 3 main regions of North Asia, North America and Europe with the congestion situation remaining steady throughout the past week. The resolution of the ILWU contract negotiations is expected to see further improvements across the US West Coast ports but the threat of a strike across the border remains as th
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have reached a tentative agreement with the PMA on 14 May 2023 on a new 6 year contract covering all 29 ports along the US West Coast, ending 13 months of negotiations that was marked by sporadic work actions by the port workers. The deal will still need to be ratified by the members in a process that would stretch over several months but it has helped to avert a catastrophic shutdown of port facilities in the US West Coast. The ILWU fai