Supply chain disruptions and port congestion are here to stay. Find out what to expect in Kuehne+Nagel's weekly port operational update. 

Cameroon

Douala: The average waiting time for a berth has remained steady at 5 days.

Congo

Pointe Noire: The 7-day average vessel waiting time has increased to around 4 days. Fixed berthing windows are suspended, resulting in increased waiting times. In addition, a shortage of tugs is adding to delays. Productivity is low, and the port is battling congestion.

Djibouti

Djibouti: Waiting times have significantly improved in the last week in Djibouti. Vessels are waiting around 3 days in comparison to 6 days last week. Yards are still congested.

Egypt

El Iskandariya (Alexandria): Yard capacity is high for dry and reefers at Old Terminal and TMT. Dredging operations will continue until mid-March at TMT, affecting several berths.

Morocco

Casablanca: The port was closed last week for 20 hours, which caused some delays in the berthing lineup.

Saudi Arabia

Dammam: Berthing delays continue due to adverse weather the previous week, yard congestion and vessels arriving off-window.

South Africa

Cape Town: Waiting times have increased due to high swells and wind and equipment issues. However, reports suggest productivity has improved overall.

Durban: Waiting times have increased again this week due to equipment and weather issues. Carriers report vessels can wait up to 28 days for a berth. According to local news, Transnet will invest R233 million (USD 12.5 million) into rehabilitating roads surrounding the port.

Tanzania

Dar es Salaam: The 7-day average vessel waiting time has increased to around 14.6 days this week due to priority berthing initiated by a government directive and congestion. Carriers, however, report some productivity improvement.

Dense fog continues to impact port operations and increase waiting times for vessels.

Indonesia

The adjusted working hours and operational timelines for Indonesian shipments during Ramadan can be found here.

Belgium

Farmers associated with the United Young Farmers (Verenigde Jonge Landbouwers) and the Farmers Defense Force intend to stage blockade protests at the ports of Antwerp, Ghent, and

Zeebrugge on Thursday, 14 March. Disruptions to the movement of containers to and from the ports will likely occur.

Finland

The two-week stevedore strike began on Monday this week and will continue until 25 March 06:00. The strike will interrupt the loading and unloading of vessels in Finnish ports.

France

Port officers planned strikes for this week across all ports in France. This could cause delays to shipping at all French ports.

Italy

Civitavecchia: Port workers plan to strike from 18 to 22 March. Delays in port operations can be expected during this period and after, depending on the backlog. Trucking operations are unlikely to be impacted, as no gate closures were announced.

Netherlands

Rotterdam: Due to high yard occupancy, some terminals are not allowing early acceptance of export containers. Empty delivery and pickup windows have also been adjusted to manage operational flow. Customers are urged to pick up imports as soon as possible to help alleviate the congestion.

USA

Houston: Dense fog prevented pilotage for two days last week. This has contributed to berthing delays in Houston.

Savannah: River draft issues and fog delayed vessel movements the previous week. This could continue into this week and impact the vessel lineup. According to seaexplorer, there are currently four vessels at anchor.

Canada

Vancouver: Yard utilisation remains high at both terminals in Vancouver. Nevertheless, vessel waiting times have improved.

Brazil

Santos: Pier works at BTP are causing delays to vessel berthing. This is expected to be completed in July. AT DP World terminal off-window vessels are waiting for 3-5 days. Santos is regulating the number of extra loader calls to limit the impact on berthing schedules.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica: Customs systems were unavailable last week, affecting all export/import procedures. Although the system is running again, intermittent issues are causing delays. The backlog of cargo to be processed is currently manageable.

Kuehne+Nagel sources report intermodal challenges due to a shortage of drivers in the country. The situation has significantly affected truck availability, causing export and import placement delays. The departure of containers from Puerto Caldera is subject to trucking slots availability.

Panama

Panama Canal: The canal authority will increase the number of vessel transits from 24 to 27 per day in March. Two additional slots will be offered by auction for transits from 18 March, and one more slot will be added for transits from 25 March.