- A backlog of containerships waiting for a free berth has resulted from the increased quantities per vessel call.
- The Long Beach facilities in Southern California saw the greatest increase of the ports surveyed by IHS Markit.
The number of containers moved per vessel call has increased exponentially during the pandemic, placing enormous pressure on the ship working and landside operations, says an article published in The Loadstar.
The latest Port Performance Data compiled by the analyst reveals that vessel exchanges – containers handled – at the major US, North European, and Asian ports jumped between 10% and 70% in the first half of the year in the same period of 2020.
Increasing container moves
Felixstowe, which witnessed an 18 percent increase in boxes handled, topped the way in North Europe, followed by Antwerp, which saw a 14 percent increase. The 27 percent increase in Singapore was followed by a 24 percent increase in Yantian and a 23 percent increase in Shanghai and Ningbo in Asia. The Long Beach facilities in Southern California, on the other hand, saw the greatest increase of the ports surveyed. With a whopping 73% increase in container movements per vessel call, Call sizes had been increasing previous to the pandemic outbreak due to increased vessel sizes and tighter network optimization, but the “highly rebounding and unpredictable demand” had “amplified the trend, causing delays at several worldwide ports,” according to IHS Markit.
Rising demand
Turloch Mooney, associate director, maritime and trade, at IHS Markit, said: “This spike in demand is placing heavy stress on the ocean, and landside operations, increasing yard congestion and cargo dwell times, with knock-on effects on equipment repositioning and intermodal links further fueling the problem and resulting in sustained congestion at key global gateways.”
The higher volumes per call – and resulting longer time spent in port – has led to a backlog of containerships awaiting a free berth. According to IHS Markit data, 40% of vessels destined for US west coast ports have to anchor to await a berth, while that drops to 26% in South-east Asia, 23% in North Europe, but only just over 10% at north-east Asian ports.IHS Markit notes that Asian ports load or unload a container in 27 seconds, on average, from large vessel calls, compared with the 46-second average at North European hubs and 76 seconds at US ports.
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Source: The Loadstar
