Significant delays in Asian and Mediterranean ports have pushed container carriers to revise sailing schedules for the next few weeks.
Last month, berthing delays at Singapore Port reached up to seven days, and the total capacity waiting to dock was 450,000 TEU.
While congestion is slowly declining in Singapore, key transhipment hubs like Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas are witnessing longer waiting times.
According to Linerlytica, only six of 11 sailings on the Asia-North Europe trade departed on schedule in week 22.
The blanked sailings include the voyages of MSC Amelia on the AE11 and MSC Mirjam on the AE15 service. The new estimated departure time for MSC Amelia will be 1 July from Qingdao Port and 2 July for MSC Mirjam from Busan Port.
Furthermore, the accumulative effect of the Red Sea diversions is impacting all major trades.
Only eight weeks into its launch, Maersk announced it would gradually end the Transatlantic service TP20 due to insufficient vessels available to provide regular sailings.
Rail strike risk in Canada
Failed labour negotiations in Canada raised concerns about a nationwide rail strike on short notice.
Although the union must wait for the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to decide on a strike decision, shippers in North America might take preventive action to divert cargo away from the nation's ports.
Carriers announced multiple blank sailings for the Port of Vancouver through to the end of week 31. These include Zim's ZPX service, MSC's Chinook and THE Alliance's PN4 service.
In addition, the Ocean Alliance plans Vancouver blank sailings on its PNW1 and PNW4 strings and PNW3 service.
Charleston Port suffers continued backlog
Also, in North America, the backlog of vessels at Charleston Port has prompted carriers to skip the port.
According to seaexplorer data, over ten vessels are anchored outside the port waiting to berth. The port's 7-day average vessel waiting time is 5.9 days. Some vessels must wait up to 9 days at Wando Welch Terminal (WWT) and four days at North Charleston Terminal (NCT).
In a recent announcement, Maersk confirmed that waiting times "increased beyond the manageable threshold" for OC1 services.
As a result, the Danish carrier decided for this service to skip Charleston Port and call Savannah for the foreseeable future.
The port had suffered a system failure last month that halted operations at all terminals for several days. Since then, the port has been working to clear the backlog of vessels and resume container handling operations.
