High levels of demand are causing port congestion and increased cargo delays, with rollovers by major carriers rising from 35% in November to 37% in December.
Many key transhipment ports and the leading container lines are continuing to see elevated levels of cargo rollovers, according to research from Ocean Insights.
Cargo levels remain far above seasonal averages, causing further delays to cargo, which is increasingly lying stranded at the quayside.
“Of the 20 global ports, 75% saw an increase in the levels of rollover cargo in December compared with the previous month,” said Josh Brazil, the analyst company’s chief operations officer.
“Major transhipment facilities such as Port Klang in Malaysia and Colombo in Sri Lanka recorded 50% or more of cargo delayed, with the world’s largest transhipment hub in Singapore and leading primary ports, such as Shanghai and Busan, rolling over more than a third of their containers last month.”
Overall rollover levels increased to 37% month on month in December, averaged across the ports surveyed, which includes facilities in all the significant cargo regions of Europe, the US and Asia as well as less cargo intensive regions such as Latin America.
“While rollover levels vary considerably from 62% in Italy’s Gioia Tauro to only 22% in Salalah, it is worth noting that Shanghai’s 37% rollover level is likely considerably higher in actual container numbers than Cartagena’s 56% rollover rate,” Ocean Insight said.
The major carriers had also seen an overall increase in rollover values from 35% in November to 37% in December.
CMA CGM and Ocean Network Express saw more than 50% of cargo left at the departure port, Ocean Insight added.
Cosco, Evergreen, and Hapag-Lloyd also saw their percentage of rollovers rise in December compared with November. CMA CGM’s rollover rates rose from 48% to 51%, ONE’s rose from 45% to 50%, and Hapag-Lloyd’s rose from 42% to 46%, while for Cosco, the proportion rose from 37% to 43%, and for Evergreen it rose from 37% to 44% – the largest percentage point rise among any of the major carriers.
Alliance partners Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co managed to stem the rise of rollover cargo month on month, both recording the same level of rollovers in December as in the previous month.
“As the Covid-19 pandemic threw global markets into disarray, consumer behavior changed dramatically, leaving the carriers as well as shippers stranded, either with goods they could not sell, or, in the second half of the year, with goods that cannot be moved,” Ocean Insight said.
“The latter crisis stems in part from a lack of containers, as the pandemic has caused box repositioning problems. Today, even if a beneficial cargo owner can get an empty container for their cargo, there is no guarantee that the cargo will make it on to a ship.”
Source: lloyd´s
