North Europe’s largest port gateways are continuing to struggle with persistent congestion that has delayed vessels and hampered container operations at the hubs for months.
Full container yards, labor unrest, staff shortages and changing carrier alliance networks are among the challenges being piled on top of a steady inbound volume from Asia.
A national strike in Belgium on April 29, the fourth strike in the country within the past few months, shut down the Port of Antwerp for the day as workers from the private and public sectors protested recent budget cuts made by the federal government.
There were 19 vessels waiting to depart from Antwerp on Thursday and 20 waiting to enter the port. SeaExplorer noted that already congested yards there have seen a seven-day average vessel waiting time of about 2.19 days; Scan Global put the seven-day waiting time in Antwerp as high as seven days.
Low-water advisory hampers inland shipping
Labor shortages at Rotterdam because of national holidays are impacting container operations at the port, according to SeaExplorer, with vessels waiting for more than a day to berth. Intermodal operator Contargo told customers in an advisory Wednesday that average waiting times for the handling of barges were 71 hours in Rotterdam and 101 hours in Antwerp.
A low-water advisory is also in place on the Rhine River, limiting the volume that can be carried by barges on Europe’s largest inland waterway connecting the industrial heartland of southern Germany to Rotterdam and Antwerp.
Container delivery restrictions were imposed by Hamburg’s main terminal operator HHLA in April to tackle yard congestion. Vessel waiting times at Hamburg are currently up to five days, according to Scan Global.
On top of ships being delayed in Hamburg, rail shipments are taking up to 10 hours to process and disrupting all terminals in the port.
In France, the Port of Le Havre is struggling to catch up with container backlogs following several strikes held in April, while the UK ports of Felixstowe and Southampton are also experiencing lengthy vessel delays.
Details please refer to the JOC news.
Source: The JOC news