Tag Archives: container shipping

New teu waiting days indicator highlights the severity of global container congestion

Posted on January 20, 2022 by | 1 comment

Kuehne + Nagel has developed a new measure of container congestion. Its digital platform seaexplorer now features the Global Disruption Index.

The index seems to total the cumulative TEU waiting time in days, based on container ship capacity in certain disrupted hot spots. Many US ports are included in the index. some Chinese and Korean ports and European ports are also included.

The graph below is an example of the information available. It clearly shows the rise in the index from 1- December to 19-January. North American ports are also clearly the largest contributors; however it is not clear from the article whether more ports from the US and North America are included in the analysis. The patterns are clearly similar.

Source: Graph from seaexplorer via Daily Splash article.

Now quite a few marine reporting services have developed congestion measures.

Is there a best one? I have not seen a study comparing the indices as to accuracy or the ability to provide insight.

For instance this Bloomberg article talks about another one, from RBC Capital Markets.

And this article from the Washington Post gives a good picture of the problems in the US.

Splash247 has also reported on the index created by the New York Federal Reserve here.

But the congestion cannot be denied. How to measure it and how to fix it are the questions to answer, for we get what we measure.

Sam Chambers January 20, 2022

New teu waiting days indicator highlights the severity of global container congestion – Splash247
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Another innovation to move China exports

Posted on January 18, 2022 by | 1 comment

FedEx Freight has chartered some small ships and arranged with a few shippers to ship full 53-foot containers manufactured in China to the US Port Hueneme, CA. Port Hueneme is a small facility jointly used with the US military. Cargo use is allowed when there is no overriding military activity.

Doing this will allow FedEx Freight to bypass the logjams at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. It also allows FedEx Freight to put the containers on its rail network for long-distance transport to inland locations. FedEx Freight is mostly an LTL service; ultimately most of the containers will be unloaded at a FedEx depot for the last mile of transport.

Other firms have been following similar strategies recently. It’s one way of getting past the bottlenecks in the LA/LB area. That should help FedEx customers. But the ships are small, and the volume will not be large. It will also produce more empty containers here in the US, and FedEx will need to figure out where to put them and how to get them back to China or elsewhere for another trip.

To the extent the bottleneck is due to surplus empty containers and a shortage of chassis, and irrational appointment behavior for delivery of empties, all this does is route a bit of cargo by another path. But no one should be criticized for examining and using alternate strategies in these hectic times.

Eric Kulisch, Air Cargo Editor Friday, January 14, 2022

FedEx Logistics charters vessels to move China exports, rail containers – FreightWaves
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FMC probe into D&D claim against Hapag-Lloyd could set industry precedent – The Loadstar

Posted on January 12, 2022 by | 1 comment

This Detention and Demurrage claim filed by a carrier against Hapag-Lloyd could be interesting to watch. All this activity takes place at the Port of Long Beach and nearby.

For one thing, the claim involves reefer containers, usually overweight, which require special triple-axle chassis to handle. It also involves breaking down the containers and restuffing them into domestic-style reefers for inland transit. The drayage firm, OAE, finds that they are often charged detention even if they can return the empties within 2 days.

From a supply chain perspective, OAE is clearly providing an important service; they are moving containers from the yard, and are quickly returning them to the carrier for reuse. Both of these are aids to reduce congestion. They also are aids to the shippers, getting cargo further along its route. And there is a recognized need for reefer containers, perhaps even more than for general merchandise containers.

So it would seem that Hapag-Lloyd might be prepared to look the other way regarding D&D charges, except when something goes wrong, such as a lost container or something. Other issues that can occur include a lack of gate appointments for return. With the congestion at Long Beach we see now, gate appointments could be in short supply. To what extent is that the fault of Hapag-Lloyd? Do they have an obligation to use a terminal that can accept the containers they are sending through it?

By Nick Savvides 10/01/2022

FMC probe into D&D claim against Hapag-Lloyd could set industry precedent – The Loadstar

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