Good Day Clients & Partners,

Please find below the latest Freight & Logistics Update.  As always, the Inter-Sped team are ready to go the extra mile for you – so don’t hesitate to contact us.

SOUTH AFRICA    

DURBAN:

The port reported windy weather during the week with no impact to operations. No improvement to berthing delays noted at Pier 2 from week 12.

• Pier 1 : 4 days – Poor STS (ship to shore) reliability and availability resulting in low productivity. Estimated recovery in 3-4 weeks.

• Pier 2 : 24-28 days – STS breakdown and poor straddle carrier reliability and availability. Medium terms equipment recommissioning by June / July. Terminal recovery expected in the next 3-5 months. Limited truck scheduled impacting imports collection and exports stacking.
• Durban Point : 3 days

 

CAPE TOWN:

The port has reported some wind impact to operations during the week.

• CTCT : 4-5 days – Full recovery expected to take 2 weeks (not withstanding possible Southeaster wind delays).
• MPT : 4-5 days – Very low productivity due to MHC (mobile harbour crane) breakdowns.

 

PORT ELIZABETH:

The port has reported some wind impact to operations during the week.

• PECT : 2-4 days
• NCT : 4-5 days – 2 berth operation in effect with berth D102 out until end of March. Crane 6, 7 and 8 out for repairs. Expected recovery in the beginning of April.

 

AFRICA & INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS    

ANGOLA

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at Luanda port.

 

GHANA

• Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Tema port.

 

IVORY COAST

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at Abidjan port.

 

KENYA

• Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Mombasa port.

 

MAURITIUS

• Berthing delays of 6 days experienced at Port Louis.

 

MOZAMBIQUE

• Berthing delays of 4 days experienced at Maputo port.

 

NAMIBIA

• Berthing delays of 7 days experienced at Walvis Bay port.

 

NIGERIA

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at Apapa port. Please take note of road maintenance taking place on the Ijora / Apapa bridge. These challenges will result in delays in container transfers to and from the port and may result in additional charges being raised.

 

TANZANIA

• Berthing delays of 7 days experienced at Dar es Salaam port. Delays are due to vessels bunching.

 

NORTH AMERICA    

CANADA

Montreal

• Berthing delays of 7 days experienced at this port. Bad weather on the North Atlantic Ocean continues to have a minor impact on vessel schedules through Montreal.

Toronto

• Berthing delays of 16 days experienced at this port.

Vancouver

• Berthing delays of 3 days experienced at this port. All marine terminals in Vancouver continue to manage through heavy congestion, resulting from an inadequate supply of rail cars from major Class 1 railways.

 

USA

Terminals Updates:

• New York/New Jersey – Vessel waiting time is up to 2 days.
• Norfolk – Vessel waiting time is up to 3 days. Berth congestion has eased overall and the closure at the Port of Baltimore does not have an effect on Norfolk berth congestion so far.
• Charleston – Vessel waiting time is up to 3 days. Dock construction at Wando Welch terminal is starting in March 2024, reducing from 3 to 2 berths for one year. Berths will be given on first come, first serve basis.
• Savannah – Vessel waiting time is up to 3 days. Frequent river closures are expected due to fog during the week.
• Miami/Port Everglades – Vessel waiting time is up to 3 days.
• Houston – Vessel waiting time is up to 2 days. Bad weather in the Gulf of Mexico continues to cause closures at ports south of Houston and delays on arrival, on short notice.
• Los Angeles/Long Beach – Vessel waiting time is up to 2 days.
• Seattle – Vessel waiting time is upto 1 day.
• Oakland – Vessel waiting time is up to 1 day.

 

LATIN AMERICA    

BRAZIL

• Berthing delays of 4 days experienced at Santos port.

 

NORTH WEST CONTINENT, UNITED KINGDOM, MEDITERRANEAN    

BELGIUM

• Berthing delays of 5 days experienced at Antwerp port. PSA 913: Yard has been fully repaired after the collapsed crane.

 

FRANCE

• Berthing delays of 4 days experienced at Le Havre port.

 

GERMANY

• Berthing delays of 4 days experienced at Hamburg port and 1 day and Bremerhaven port. CTA: Terminal started with shore power installations beginning of March, which slightly reduces berth availability, no impact to operations for this week. CTB: Ongoing shore power construction with challenges to operations for all piers at CTB but currently low impact as the construction moves around the vessel arrivals.

 

ITALY

• Berthing delays of 3 days experienced at Genova port and 7 days at La Spezia port.

 

NETHERLANDS

• Berthing delays of 3 days experienced at Rotterdam port. RWG: Berth line-up remains on a high level but all vessels with berth on arrival.

 

SPAIN

• Berthing delays of 9 days experienced at Barcelona port.

 

SWEDEN

• Berthing delays of 6 days experienced at Gothenburg port.

 

TURKEY

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at Istanbul port.

 

UNITED KINGDOM

• Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at London Gateway port. Commissioning of recently delivered new Gantry cranes in progress. Terminal with a full berth line-up for the coming weeks with back-toback vessels at all berths but no backlog.

 

INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT & MIDDLE EAST    

INDIA

• Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Nhava Sheva port and 1 day at Chennai port.

 

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

• Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Jebel Ali port.

 

ASIA PACIFIC (Including Oceania)    

HONG KONG

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at this port.

 

KOREA

• Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Busan port.

 

MALAYSIA

• Berthing delays of 6 days experienced at Port Kelang.

 

NANSHA

• No berthing delays experienced at this port.

 

QINGDAO

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at this port.

 

SHANGHAI / NINGBO

• Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Ningbo and Shanghai ports.

 

SHEKOU / YANTIAN

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at Shekou and Yantian ports.

 

XIAMEN

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at this port.

 

XINGANG

• Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at this port.

 

SINGAPORE

• Berthing delays of 2 days being experienced at this port. Delays experienced due to bunching of vessels and yard congested caused by heavy volume discharge. FCL containers transshipping in Singapore have expected delays of 1-2 weeks.

 

TAIWAN

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at Kaohsiung port.

 

THAILAND

• Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at Bangkok port.

 

VIETNAM

• Berthing delays of 1 day experienced at Ho Chi Minh and Hai Phong ports.

 

NEWS ARTICLES    

Container handling down at all South Africa’s ports:

Date: 27th March 2024

Container throughput decreased week-on-week from 8 838 containers to 7 197 for the week ending March 22, Business Unity SA (Busa) and the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) have found in its latest Cargo Movement Update.

The significant decrease is primarily because of adverse weather conditions, compounded by equipment shortages and breakdowns, and was exacerbated by congestion. According to the update, “Strong winds and dense fog were the main operational constraints in Cape Town this week, while high swells coupled with adverse weather disrupted operations at our Eastern Cape ports. “A fatality in Durban disrupted waterside operations for approximately five hours between Monday and Tuesday.”

“All major terminals registered significant declines versus last week, except for Durban Container Terminal (DCT) Pier 2. In fact, DCT Pier 1 was down by 25%, Cape Town Container Terminal down by 19%, and Ngqura down 39%, w-o-w.” Striking a balanced tone, the update says: “Despite the fact that operational performances at our container terminals fell well short of expectations in the past week, the medium-term trajectory shows some promise, offering optimism and suggesting potential for improvement and growth.” [1]

 

Container ship collision causes port bridge collapse in the US:

Date: 26th March 2024

A “mass casualty event” is unfolding in Baltimore after a container vessel crashed into a supporting pillar of the world’s third-longest continuous truss bridge, causing the entire Franscis Scott Key Bridge to collapse section by section into the Patapsco River.

The incident occurred at about 1:30am US Eastern Time when the 9,962 TEU vessel, Dali, laden with cargo and sailing to Colombo in Sri Lanka, collided with the bridge south-east of the Port of Baltimore.

About 20 people in several cars are believed to have been on the bridge at the time of the incident. The Baltimore City Fire Department said it was searching for seven people in the water in the immediate aftermath. The department’s spokesperson, Kevin Cartwright, said no reports of any fatalities had been received at the time this report was posted.

The crew of the 300m-long Singaporean-run vessel, owned by Grace Ocean Investment, also escaped unscathed. [2]

 

East Coast Ports Face Challenge of Diverted Baltimore Cargo, Drewry Says:

Date: 29th March 2024

Maritime industry consultancy Drewry flags potential challenges for the US East Coast ports due to the diversion of Baltimore’s container volumes combined with expected market growth in 2024. The Port of Baltimore is the busiest in the U.S. for handling cars and light trucks, processing nearly 850,000 units in 2023. It also managed around half a million passengers, 11.7 million tonnes of general cargo, and a record 1.1 million TEUs of containers last year.

With access to the Port of Baltimore cut off by the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, cargo is expected to be diverted to nearby ports, including the ports of Virginia and New York/New Jersey. In terms of container traffic, New York/New Jersey leads the northern part of the US East Coast with 59% of the throughput, according to Drewry. Virginia’s Hampton Roads terminals, primarily Norfolk International Terminal and Virginia International Gateway, handle about 25%, followed by Baltimore at 9%, and Philadelphia at 6%. The remaining traffic goes to Boston, Wilmington (Delaware), and other smaller terminals. [3]

 

‘No-go’ area for seafarers expanded:

Date: 25th March 2024

The death of three crew members aboard the True Confidence following a Houthi attack earlier this month has prompted the International Bargaining Forum’s (IBF) Warlike Operations Area Committee to designate the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden ‘warlike’ to  emphasise the seriousness of the situation. In addition to the three deaths aboard the True Confidence, three out of four additional individuals sustained critical injuries in the missile attack.

“Our first priority is the safety of seafarers,” said the IBF, which was set up as a process in which maritime employers and seafarers’ unions could negotiate over the wages and conditions of employment of seafarers serving on ships to which International Transport Workers Federation special agreements apply.

“Ships transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are Houthi missile targets, putting seafarers’ lives in grave danger. We strongly urge charterers, operators and shipowners to avoid passage through the area until there is no risk to the safety of seafarers from further attacks,” a spokesman said.

The IBF Warlike Operations Area had been 12 nautical miles off the mainland Yemeni Coast. The latest decision expands the warlike area to cover the previously declared high-risk area, which included the southern section of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, stretching across to the Eritrea coast. The area encompasses the Bab El Mandeb Strait including the Maritime Security Transit Corridor in its entirety within the Gulf of Aden.” [4]

 

Far East-Middle East/India trade booms, as European exporters suffer:

Date: 28th March 2024

Other than elongated transit times, Asia-Europe container supply chains may be so far largely unscathed by the Red Sea crisis and vessel diversions around the Cape of Good Hope – but for European exporters to the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, it has been a disaster. Massively increased transit time and sky-rocketing freight rates on both headhaul and backhaul trades have led more and more Indian businesses to turn to Far East suppliers to source materials, according to new analysis by maritime consultancy MSI.

“Following a solid 2023, where it expanded by 11%, the Far East-Middle East/India trade recorded a massive 34.5% year-on-year expansion in January,” it notes in the March edition of its Horizon Monthly Containerships report. “India has been the primary driver of this growth, since it is by far the region’s largest importer. The booming Indian economy has led to increased demand for containerised imports,” it said.

In terms of volumes, in Q1 22, the Far East-Middle East/India trade was around twice the size of the Europe-Middle East/India trade, at 1.89m teu and 905,000 teu, respectively. Two years later, it is now around three times the size . MSI’s first-quarter 2024 volume estimates is for Far East-Middle East/India trade to see 2.24m teu, representing year-on-year growth of 16.4%, while the Europe-Middle East/India trade is expected to show an 11.8% year-on-year contraction, to 785,000 teu.

“Consumer confidence has also bounded back strongly from the pandemic lows, and is rising every quarter. We expect India to continue to record strong import growth from the Far East, merging as a bright spot for container carriers,” MSI concluded. [5]

 

IMO Approves New Emission Control Areas in Canadian Artic and Norwegian Sea:

Date: 29th March 2024

The International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee has approved the establishment of two new Emission Control Areas (ECAs) in Canada’s Arctic waters and the Norwegian Sea.

The ECAs, proposed by both Canada and Norway, were endorsed by IMO member states during last week’s MEPC 81 meeting. The primary aim of these ECAs is to reduce emissions such as sulphur oxides (SOx), particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from international shipping. The new ECAs areas are now set to be adopted during the MEPC 82 meeting in October, with entry into force from March 2026.

The creation of an ECA in Canadian Arctic waters will reduce polluting air emissions from ships, improve air quality for northern populations, deliver benefits to both marine and terrestrial habitats and wildlife and also contribute to a reduction in climate-forcing black carbon pollution in the Arctic. [6]

 

SOURCES & REFERENCES     

[1] https://www.freightnews.co.za/article/container-handling-down-all-south-africas-ports

[2] https://www.freightnews.co.za/article/container-ship-collision-causes-port-bridge-collapse-us

[3] https://gcaptain.com/east-coast-ports-face-challenge-of-diverted-baltimore-cargo-drewry-says/

[4] https://www.freightnews.co.za/article/no-go-area-seafarers-expanded

[5] https://theloadstar.com/far-east-middle-east-india-trade-booms-as-european-exporters-suffer/

[6] https://gcaptain.com/imo-approves-new-emission-control-areas-in-canadian-arctic-and-norwegiansea/

 

SACO CFR | Hapag Lloyd | Maersk | MSC | Transnet | The LoadStar Publications | gCaptain.com | Shipco Transport | Splash247.com | Freightnews | Hellenic Shipping News | Seatrade Maritime News | JAS Newsflash

We continue to monitor the freight world developments closely, and will be in contact with you directly for updates relevant to you on an individual shipment level.

 

Best Regards

Linda & The Inter-Sped Team