The IAPH-WPSP survey on the impact of COVID-19 sheds light on the port call delay procedures.
No extra delays
Nearly 7 out of 10 ports with inland barge operations indicate that there are no extra
delays during the past week due to changes in call procedures (e.g. hygiene inspections,
distancing of workforce, disruption of port or related services), while some 2 out of 10 ports
report minor delays (> 6 hours).
For container vessels and other cargo vessels, more than 90% of the ports point to no or only minor delays.
Also here, the worst situation is found in the passenger segment: 40% of the ports have discontinued this type of operations, while nearly half of the ports report no additional delays.
Minor delays
Minor delays emerged due to longer shift changeover times, which is a result of social
distancing and cleaning equipment between users. Some limits were also observed
in operational capacity of container terminals.
This was especially the case with the maximum limit of at-the-gate delivered containers (gate in and gate out procedures) per hour, as human resources at the terminal need to work while maintaining social distances and operational vehicles (STS cranes, vans, side and front loaders) requiring sanitization every shift.
Operational delay
A third type of operational delay was observed in the slowdown of ro-ro traffic,
especially in the case of car carriers.
This is due to reduced safe staff numbers on shuttle buses used to carry drivers from parking areas to the quays after having unloaded the cars (no more than 3 drivers).
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Source: IAPH-WPSP
