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New alliance vessel plans add to ongoing port congestion in Europe

Severe congestion continues to plague ports across Europe with new alliance vessel plans combining with strikes, bad weather and fully occupied container yards to delay ships and disrupt terminal operations.

The bottlenecks are being felt in both North Europe and the Mediterranean, with carriers, terminals and forwarders reporting lengthy delays in some ports.

Maersk said in its latest Europe advisory that all terminals in Antwerp were congested “due to the phase-in and phase-out of vessel plans,” a factor that was being exacerbated by late vessel arrivals from delays in previous ports.

 

French unions are holding four-hour stoppages in Le Havre on eight separate days in March, in addition to a three-day strike planned this week from March 18–20. Significant disruption is already being experienced from the rolling industrial action, and the full-day strikes are set to bring container operations in France to a standstill this week.

Spillover effects of the Le Havre strike are also affecting Rotterdam, according to HMM, which said the average berth waiting time at Europe’s largest container port was 5.6 days.

 

At Rotterdam’s ECT Euromax terminal, Hutchison Ports has announced that container stacks are so high it will not be able to accept empty containers delivered by road ​​from March 23 “to prevent an unworkable situation.”

The port bottlenecks are also impacting inland connections from Rotterdam and nearby Antwerp. Intermodal operator Contargo on Monday reported average waiting times for the handling of its barges have reached 75 hours in Antwerp and 72 hours in Rotterdam.

Adding to the port congestion issues are seasonal low water levels in the Rhine River that restrict the loading of containers for inland destinations and are generating surcharges of about €50 ($54) per box. The low-water surcharges will rise as water levels drop further through the summer, with shifting cargo putting pressure on road and rail services.

In the Mediterranean, HMM noted that the Greek hub of Piraeus has a berth waiting time of 4.4 days and six days for feeder vessels, while average berth wait times at Genoa and La Spezia were four days.

Details please refer to the JOC news

Source:

Knowler, G. (2025b, March 17). New Alliance vessel plans add to ongoing port congestion in Europe. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/new-alliance-vessel-plans-add-to-ongoing-port-congestion-in-europe-5963964

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Proposed US tax on Chinese ship calls could pressure intermodal networks

If a Trump administration proposal to tax Chinese-built and -operated ships calling at US ports is enacted, the nation’s Class I railroads could face the challenge of attempting to move cargo through fewer entry points without disrupting service, railroad executives said Tuesday.

Executives from CSX Transportation and Union Pacific Railroad (UP), speaking at the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference, said while they could accommodate a shift toward larger ports, it would not come without “significant” disruption.

“Certainly, this potential port fee that could come into play would have a significant disruptive impact,” said CSX CFO Sean Pelkey. “If there’s more consolidation at ports that we serve and there’s more volume that wants to come into those ports, that’s a good thing. We can be a part of the solution for that. But it could also result in more congestion as well, which could have significant disruptive effects.”

Congestion on the rail network is a key concern.

During last year’s peak shipping season, service disruptions on the US West Coast coincided with double-digit percentage growth in cargo volume. In October, 795 of UP’s loaded intermodal railcars sat idle for at least 48 hours, according to the US Surface Transportation Board. That same month, UP’s average intermodal train speed fell to 27.9 miles per hour during the week of Oct. 9–16, its slowest week since 2019.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. CEO Soren Toft said at TPM25 last week that it would no longer be economically viable for carriers to call smaller US ports if the Trump plan was implemented, something echoed by UP CEO Jennifer Hamann.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Ashe, A. (2025, March 11). Proposed US tax on Chinese ship calls could pressure intermodal networks. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/proposed-us-tax-on-chinese-ship-calls-could-pressure-intermodal-networks-5960849

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Houthi militants threaten to restart attacks on Red Sea shipping

Houthi militants have threatened to resume attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea by midweek unless Israel resumes humanitarian aid and electricity supplies to Gaza that were cut earlier this month.

Speaking during a televised address on March 8, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi set a four-day deadline for Israel to lift a blockade on aid deliveries into Gaza — which have been halted since March 2 — after which time the Houthis would “resume our naval operations against the Israeli enemy.”

The Houthis had paused attacks on international shipping and on Israel on Jan. 19, except for vessels wholly owned by Israeli individuals and/or sailing under the Israeli flag, in line with the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that expired on March 1 without being extended or progressing to its proposed second stage.

 

The threat underscores the fragility of the Red Sea security situation and the reluctance of ocean carriers to resume Suez Canal transits until the safety of crew, ships and cargo can be guaranteed. Carriers have been diverting vessels around southern Africa since the Houthi attacks on shipping began 15 months ago.

“It has to be safe, and right now it is not safe,” Soren Toft, CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), told TPM25.

“It is all linked to a number of agreements in the Middle East that are still being discussed, so for us there will be no immediate return to the Red Sea,” Toft added. “Could it happen next month, two months, six months? I don’t know. Eventually it will happen.”

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Knowler, G. (2025, March 10). Houthi militants threaten to restart attacks on Red Sea Shipping. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/houthi-militants-threaten-to-restart-attacks-on-red-sea-shipping-5959250

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CMA CGM, Maersk become latest to launch joint express Asia-ECSA service

CMA CGM and Maersk will become the latest carriers to launch a joint Asia-East Coast South America (ECSA) service with a semi-express loop that is specifically targeting the significant trade growth between Brazil and Vietnam.

The move follows a tie-up between HMM and Ocean Network Express (ONE) that will see the two carriers begin an express service linking Busan and South China with Brazil.

Both the CMA CGM/Maersk and HMM/ONE connections will begin in April, just as container freight rates are anticipated to rise, according to one Brazilian-based freight forwarder.

 

CMA CGM said its Asia-South America East Coast 3 (SEAS3) service — known as the ASAS2 for Maersk — will provide a “unique service from Vietnam” while also streamlining shipments between Asia and Brazil with the limited number of port calls improving transit times.

This is the first time CMA CGM and Maersk have teamed up on an Asia-ECSA service. Their separate existing services involve multiple ports calls in Asia and South America, including Argentina and Uruguay.

Maersk said there will be a 37-day transit from Shanghai to Santos, 33 days from Shekou (Shenzhen) to Santos, and 29 days from Vung Tau to Santos, Latin America’s largest port.

CMA CGM is providing seven vessels with a nominal capacity of 6,500 TEUs, while Maersk is deploying four ships on the service.

The full rotation is Shanghai-Shekou-Vung Tau-Singapore-Santos-Singapore-Shanghai.

 

ONE and HMM will start their joint Asia-ECSA service in April from Busan, also with limited port calls to enhance transit times. The rotation is Busan–South China–Singapore–Rio Grande–Santos–Santa Catarina–Singapore–Hong Kong–Busan.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Wallis, K. (2025, March 5). CMA CGM, Maersk become latest to launch Joint Express Asia-ECSA SERVICE. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/cma-cgm-maersk-become-latest-to-launch-joint-express-asia-ecsa-service-5956746