Ports/Logistics

Global container port throughout is expected to reach a record high of 947m teu in 2024, with full year growth forecasts revised upwards to 4.7% following 2 consecutive years of lacklustre growth of 0.7% in 2022 and 2023. The sharp rise in cargo volumes in the first half of 2024 has propelled port congestion to a new 18 month year high, with notable gains at several key Asian hubs including Singapore (up 7.7% YTD), Tanjung Pelepas (up 20.1% YTD) and Colombo (up 20.4% YTD).

The closure of the port of Baltimore after the 9,962 teu Maersk operated containership DALI struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge on 26 Match 2024 will not have a significant impact on container supply chain in the US. The port of Baltimore handled 1.12m teu of container cargo in 2023,  accounting for only 4.5% of the total containers handled at the main ports at the US East Coast. There is sufficient container handling capacity at the neighbouring ports of Norfolk and New York where the cargo aff

China’s Ministry of Transportation (MOT) has stopped the publication of the country’s container port statistics and has replaced it with summary container volume data by provinces only. The publication of full year data has also been delayed, with the latest available data for 2023 provided to November only. The MOT only provided provincial level container handling volumes data for January and February 2024 on 29 March 2024, with overall container volumes rising by 12.1% in the first 2 months o

Global container port throughput has reached an estimated 905m in 2023, representing a annual growth of 0.7% compared to 2022. China has withheld the publication of their official container port handling statistics for the last 3 months, with official data only available to November 2023 which showed YTD growth at Chinese ports (including Hong Kong) to have reached 3.9% in the first 11 months of the year. The Chinese port data has been inflated since 2022 with Chinese throughput growth outpaci

Transpacific eastbound container volumes have rebounded by 16.9% in January 2024 and full year volumes are expected to record positive growth again after falling by 15.1% last year. Transpacific carriers have been able to take advantage of the strong cargo rebound with freight rates more than 200% higher compared to last year. The Top 3 carriers (COSCO, CMA CGM and Evergreen) have managed to retain their positions in January, and all 3 are members of the OCEAN Alliance who are poised  to stren

Chinese ports recorded strong volume gains in November with an aggregate increase of 3.7% compared to the same month last year. Year to date volumes for the first 11 months of the year reached 3.6%, led by strong gains in river ports. A large part of the Chinese port gains are coming from inland water-to-water transshipment volumes which has significantly boosted overall numbers compared to the rest of the world. Shanghai was the first Chinese port to report its full year 2023 performance, wit

Congestion at Panama has started to ease after THE Alliance cancelled all of their southbound Panama transits on their all-water services EC1, EC2 and EC6 as of last week, with omissions also planned on all of the northbound transits starting from next week onwards. At least 5 of these ships on the backhaul route will be returning via the Cape of Good Hope and avoiding the Suez Canal as well. However, all of the headhaul sailings on the 3 affected all-water strings will still take the Suez Route

Global container throughput increased by 5.4% in September, based on flash estimates from Linerlytica’s global ports survey. It is the strongest monthly growth rate achieved so far in 2023, although this is tempered by the low base in September 2022 when container volumes first showed signs of weakness after the frenetic growth in the previous 2 years. The strong September growth rate raised  the 3rd quarter throughput growth to 1.9% - the first positive quarter this year. YTD volumes remain n

Initial ports data for September suggests cargo volumes have already started to drop ahead of the Chinese holidays in October, confirming the weak peak season trend this year. Container volumes fell month on month across the 4 main Far East ports that have published their September volumes so far at Shanghai, Singapore, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, with the falls ranging from -2.8% to -4.5%. Despite the reduced MoM volumes, they were mostly still ahead of the same period last year with Shenzhen in p

Israeli ports have come under the spotlight following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war over the weekend. The 2 main Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa that handle over 3.1m teu of container cargo annually have continued cargo operations through the weekend despite the military operations at Gaza. The situation remains fluid after Israel formally declared war for the first time since 1973 but the impact on the container shipping market is limited for now. So far no major congestion hotspots