Kuehne+Nagel aims to provide the most up-to-date port operational information so you can make more informed decisions for your cargo.

Africa

Benin

Cotonou: Vessels continue to wait around 4 days for a berth. Container yards are overcapacity on exports and empty containers, impacting productivity.

Congo

Pointe Noire: The container yard is overcapacity in Pointe Noire. Vessels are not berthing according to their planned berthing windows, causing delays. The 7-day average vessel waiting time is around 4 days.

Egypt

El Iskandariya (Alexandria): The container yard is highly utilised, causing some delays. Berthing delays are a result of periodic bad weather.

South Africa

Cape Town: The 7-day average vessel waiting time has seen little change in Cape Town this week. Vessels were waiting, on average, 7 days for a berth. According to Kuehne+Nagel sources, the waiting time is seeing improvements of around 3 days this week. However, union engagements across all three shifts at CTCT yesterday delayed operations for approximately 90 minutes on each shift. High swells, equipment issues and wind are challenging operations at the port. Two vessels are currently waiting to berth.

Durban: The 7-day average has increased to around 10.5 days in Durban since the start of the week. Kuehne+Nagel sources report a waiting time of around 5 days for those 10 vessels currently at anchor, viz. Halsted, Irenes Resolve, BFAD Pacific, APL Houston, Bay Bridge, MSC Auriga, One Readiness, Ital Usodimare, MSC Meltemi III and Maersk Visby.

High winds and equipment issues are causing delays to container movements.

Port Elizabeth and Coega: Over the last 24 hours, both ports have been windbound this week. At Coega, vessel waiting time has increased to around 12 days. The Kuala Lumpur Express and MSC Prelude V are currently at anchor.

Tanzania

Dar Es Salaam: Severe berthing delays due to government directive on priority berthing. Vessels are waiting around 13 days to berth. According to seaexplorer data, 16 vessels are at anchor. Additionally, yard, gate, and road congestion limit port productivity.

Asia

Several ports in South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam will close for Lunar New Year celebrations between 9 and 11 February.

Chinese ports were forced to close for several hours due to dense fog last week. The impact on waiting time has been limited.

Europe

High winds are impacting port operations in the UK and North Europe this week. Ports are forced to temporarily stop operations until it is safe to resume.

Farmers' strikes across Europe are causing delays to road traffic, including at border crossings. Polish farmers have announced a month-long strike beginning on 9 February. This includes blocking borders to Ukraine. Similarly, Spanish farmers have announced several protests across the country, which could block major roads and disrupt the flow of traffic.

France

Port workers began strikes against pension reforms at French ports this week as follows :

• 5 February - 4 hours of operational stoppage
• 7 February - 24 hours of stoppage
• 9 February - 4 hours of stoppage

As a result, we expect vessel waiting times to increase this week and some delays to landside operations.

Germany

Hamburg: Farmers' protests blocked access to the port last week, delaying container movements. The yard utilisation has increased as a result.

North America

Canada

Vancouver: Snow clearance is causing some delays at the terminals in Vancouver. Currently, five vessels are waiting for a berth.

USA

Houston: Bayport Container terminal is experiencing delays in vessel lineup of around 4 days. As of today, three vessels are waiting at anchor in Houston.

Central and Latin America

Brazil

Navegantes: Maersk announced it will temporarily replace its Navegantes call on its UCLA service with Salvador. It will no longer accept bookings to Navegantes for the next 13 weeks beginning with GSL Arcadia 409 N. The port is temporarily affected by high swells, making it unsafe for vessel navigation. MSC made a similar announcement on its Gulf to SAEC String 1 service. The two carriers jointly operate this service.

Santos: The average vessel waiting time has increased further this week to around 3 days this week caused by advese weather conditions. According to seaexplorer, four vessels are currently waiting for a berth.

Chile

Valparaiso: Severe fires have affected the central-southern area of Chile, especially the Valparaiso region, since Friday, 2 February. In view of the emergency situation, the terminal is operating under contingency plans due to staff being affected by the fires.

Oceania

Australia

DP World Australia and the Maritime Union of Australia have reached a four-year wage agreement for port workers at their terminals across Australia. This ends a series of strikes and bans, which began in October 2023. Sailing schedules are expected to return to normal as the terminals work through the backlog and normalise operations.

Sydney: Patrick Port Botany will be closed on 10 February between 06:00 and 14:00 for maintenance. All vessel, road and rail operations will be suspended during this time.