Stay ahead of supply chain disruptions and port congestion with Kuehne+Nagel's weekly port operational update.

Middle East Africa

Ghana

Tema: Vessel waiting time has exceeded 6 days this week due to high swells and power outages. Some carriers advise the wait can be up to 9 days. As a result of these delays, the port is unable to honour fixed berthing windows.

Mozambique

Beira: Waiting time for vessels is around 5 days due to crane maintenance.

Saudi Arabia

Dammam: Vessel waiting time has improved significantly this week due to improved yard congestion levels. At the time of publishing, there were no vessels at anchor.

South Africa

Extreme weather affected South African ports and the Cape of Good Hope sailing route last week. As a result, ships calling South African ports and those sailing around South Africa are delayed. Carriers have announced revised sailing schedules to maintain schedule integrity. Read more

Durban: Waiting time for vessels has increased to more than 8 days this week. At the time of publishing, ten vessels were at anchor. Some carriers report waiting up to 17 days due to low productivity and equipment challenges.

Cape Town: High swells and heavy gusts restricted ship movements in and around the port, increasing the waiting time for a berth.Two vessels were at anchor at the time of publishing.

Port Elizabeth: Due to wind-related closures last week, vessel waiting time has increased to around 3 days. At the time of publishing, two vessels were at anchor.

Tanzania

Dar es Salaam: The 7-day vessel waiting time is around 8 days due to vessel bunching and system deployment issues at the port.

UAE

Jebel Ali:  Kuehne+Nagel reports 5-7 days of congestion for imports into Jebel Ali due to the Red Sea crisis and an additional 1-2 days of delay for container discharge. Due to the congestion, some carriers opt to tranship Jebel Ali Cargo in Abu Dhabi.

For exports, operational challenges relate to vessels waiting to berth and extended port stays of 2-5 days, which results in vessel bunching in Jebel Ali.

Asia Pacific

Bangladesh

Chattogram: The 7-day average vessel waiting time is around 2 days, and the port is heavily congested. Most carriers are facing severe space/equipment shortages in Bangladesh.

China

High volumes and vessel bunching increase waiting times at ports in North China.

India

Chennai: Ennore, Kattupalli and Chennai Terminals are heavily congested. Space/equipment remains challenging for most carriers. 

Mundra: The port is heavily congested, impacting terminal operations and the transport of containers between CFS and terminals. Some carriers are skipping Mundra to maintain schedules. Rail freight to/from Mundra has now been extended from 7-9 days to 15-20 days.

Nhava Sheva: The monsoon season is interrupting port operations. At BMCT, vessels can wait 18-20 hours due to arriving off-window and low productivity at the port. A berth has been under construction at NSFT since 1 March, reducing the number of berths available and lowering overall productivity. The port does not allow for early container clearance, which, in the current situation, is causing delays.

Sri Lanka

Colombo: The additional volumes through the port since the beginning of the year have caused heavy congestion in Colombo. High yard utilisation, weather issues, and inter-terminal delays are reducing productivity. This has extended the turnaround time for a vessel to 38 hours instead of the usual 24 hours, resulting in some carriers omitting Colombo and decreasing throughput in June, reports Sunday Times Sri Lanka.

In addition, a customs strike from 10 to 12 July is causing additional delays.

Europe

Germany

Hamburg: The recent strikes have resulted in large port and customs clearance backlogs, delaying intermodal movements.

For truck transport, there are currently handling delays of at least 7 hours at CTA and approximately 18 hours at CTB. Truckers are currently unable to guarantee punctual delivery and container collection. In addition, the limited booking slots for pickup/dropoffs at the terminals also contribute to the critical situation.

For rail transport, infrastructure work on the German rail network and port congestion limit rail movements from/to Germany and other northern European ports.

Greece

Piraeus: Vessel waiting times have increased due to a high number of calls, pier maintenance and high yard utilisation.

Thessaloniki: The 7-day average vessel waiting time is around 2.5 days. The port was closed from 9 to 10 July due to extreme heat. The terminal implemented daily berthing windows on 14 July.

Italy

A rail accident and civil works restrict rail movements in Italy in July and August. Most containers will be moved by truck, creating a shortage of truck availability. Read more

Netherlands

Rotterdam:  APT Terminals advised that the recent yard density at APM Terminals MVII is higher than average. It forecasts that yard density will exceed operational limits given high density and foreseeable operational stops due to bad weather. For this reason, the terminal stopped accepting empty container deliveries for all modalities from 15 July at 12:00.

The operator later advised acceptance of MSC containers.

Spain

Barcelona: Berthing delays have exceeded 6 days due to a high number of vessel calls and increased yard density, impacting productivity.

Valencia: High yard density, labour shortage, and a heavy berthing lineup increase vessel waiting times. On 16 July, operations were limited because of a public holiday.

North America

USA

Houston: Waiting time for vessels has improved after last week's hurricane-related closures. At the time of publishing, three vessels were at anchor.

Canada

Vancouver: Yards are highly utilised at the various terminals, and rail car shortages persist.

Average rail dwell in Canada:

• Halifax - 3 days
• Montreal - 6 days
• Prince Rupert - 5 days
• Vancouver - 8 days

South and Central America

Brazil

Navegantes: Heavy rains and strong currents caused delays to vessel arrival and departures for Navegantes.

Santos: Weather conditions in the last weeks have increased berth waiting times.

Chile

Callao: Bad weather from 10-12 July affected vessel operations and increased waiting times.

Colombia

Cartagena: High yard occupancy and low productivity are causing berthing delays.

Mexico

Lazaro Cardenas: Low productivity and high yard utilisation are causing vessel delays. Difficulties with confirming container entry and exit appointments persist at the port, with waiting times of up to 48 hours due to operational challenges.

Veracruz: Vessel waiting times remain high after Hurricane Beryl's effect earlier this month.

India's first transhipment port begins trial vessel calls

Last week, the Maersk-chartered vessel San Fernando made the initial trial call at India's first deep-water transhipment port, Vishinjam (Thiruvananthapuram).

The vessel discharged 2,000 containers and re-stowed 400 others, according to a press release from the port operator Adani Ports,

Although the port is still under construction, Adani reports it is close to completing Phase 1 this year, ushering in the initial trial runs.

Kuhne+Nagel sources say trial vessel calls will run from July until September/mid-October as construction to complete the first of four phases continues.

The deep-sea transhipment port will accommodate 18,000+ TEU vessels on completion in 2028-2029 and boasts world-class automation and IT systems.

Adani ports expressed the importance of a transhipment port for the subcontinent, stating that 25% of India's container traffic is transshipped before arriving at its destination. Furthermore, 75% of India's transshipped cargo is handled by ports outside India.

Vizhinjam is located at the southern tip of India, close to East-West routes, which makes it ideally placed to rival other transhipment ports such as Colombo and Singapore.

"Vizhinjam will not only facilitate the movement of transshipment traffic into India, but the strategically located port will also play a pivotal role in handling traffic along major routes connecting India, such as traffic between the US, Europe, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent as well as the US, Europe, Africa, and the Far East, and thus play a critical role in the international trade routes, wrote Adani Ports.

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