by Priya Radünzel, SeaNewsEditor

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

Middle East Africa

Cameroon

Douala: The 7-day average vessel waiting time is around 6.56 days.

Djibouti

Djibouti: The 7-day average vessel waiting time is around 4.5 days. The berth lineup is severely congested due to vessel bunching. Reefer capacity is around 90%.

DRC

Pointe Noire: The 7-day average vessel waiting time is around 2.1 days.

Gambia

Banjul: The port is experiencing severe congestion, with no berthing windows available, resulting in waiting times of around 9 days. However, some vessels can wait up to 20 days. Vessels arrive on a first-in/first-out basis.

Nigeria

Floods in the northern state of Borno have affected over 414,000 people. Key transport infrastructure is severely impacted, with the partial collapse of two major bridges in Maiduguri, restricting access to hospitals, markets, and other critical services. The ports are unaffected, but routes to the north are impacted.

Lagos: The 7-day average vessel waiting time is around 2 days.

South Africa

Cape Town: Equipment shortages are lowering productivity and increasing waiting times. Some ships can wait up to 8 days for a berth.

Durban: Port equipment shortages and crane outages are significantly slowing down land and waterside productivity, resulting in high waiting times.

Port Elizabeth: Adverse weather and swells have resulted in an average waiting time of around 8.25 days.

Tanzania

Dar es Salaam: Due to crane issues, the 7-day average vessel waiting time decreased to around 5.4 days.

Asia Pacific

Australia

Melbourne: DP World Melbourne faced IT issues earlier this week after a systems upgrade on 13 September. The intermittent problems reportedly caused significant delays to truck movements at DPW and neighbouring terminals.

Bangladesh

Chittagong (Chattogram): The port remains heavily congested; however, it is working on delivering import containers to ease yard utilisation. The average 7-day vessel waiting time is around 2.88 days.

China

All terminals in Shanghai and Ningbo resumed normal operations from the evening and night of 16 September. Typhoon Bebinca did not cause port congestion, but import and export vessel operations were postponed by one day. It is expected that these containers will be cleared by 18 September.

Yantian: On 16 September, a ship-to-shore crane collapsed onto a container ship at the port, suspending operations at berth 2. The incident caused no injuries; however, several containers collapsed into the water.

India

The Ganpati Visarjan festival in Maharashtra, from 7 to 17 September, is expected to cause logistical challenges. Many truck drivers and port workers will participate in the celebrations, likely leading to delays at the Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports.

Additionally, Mundra port is still affected by heavy rains and flooding, contributing to further delays.

New Zealand

Tauranga: In Week 36, the port experienced significant vessel omissions and delays with services departing from Australia. In Week 37, the port anticipates berth congestion, making expediting vessels on schedule challenging. Effective labour management will be crucial.

Malaysia

Port Klang: While vessel waiting times are within a day, occupancy in the Westport yard was around 80% last week. At the time of publication, 13 vessels were waiting at anchorage.

Philippines

Manila: The average 7-day vessel waiting time increased to around 4.03 days. Both Manila North and South remain heavily trafficked and have not recovered from recent adverse weather. The overall situation has stabilised in Manila North (MICT), but heavy berth traffic continues.

Sri Lanka

Colombo: Yard occupancy is high at all terminals. In addition, heavy rainfall and strong wind have impacted overall operations in all terminals. Carriers report slight delays for inter-terminal transfers due to adverse weather. There were 10 vessels at anchorage at the time of publication.

Europe

Recent extreme weather has caused significant delays in cargo transportation across several European nations, including Hungary, southern Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

The disruption has occurred due to the significant impact of the heavy rainfall and subsequent floods on rail networks. Read more

Germany

Hamburg: Due to an error in a system update from the Hamburg Port Authority, the Port of Hamburg's infrastructure is currently at full capacity. According to a statement from the DB network coordination, no trains bound for Hamburg will depart from the southern start stations until at least 18:00 today, 18 September. Significant delays and cancellations are expected for trains to and from Hamburg.

Greece

Piraeus: Due to a high number of calls and interruptions from severe weather in week 37, vessel waiting times remain slightly elevated. The number of feeders calling the port is forecast to increase in week 38. The yard utilisation is around 90%.

Italy

Trieste: Due to severe weather warnings predicting gale-force winds in the North Adriatic area, the terminal will suspend all operations for safety reasons on 18 September from 01:00 to 13:00. This closure will affect all terminal, vessel, and rail operations, potentially causing train delays or cancellations. Operations will resume when weather conditions permit, and all safety regulations are met.

Netherlands

Rotterdam: The average 7-day vessel waiting time is around 2 days. The berths are fully occupied, and vessel delays en route impact arrivals. Yard occupancy is around 80% and is expected to increase this week.

Portugal

Port and harbour pilots at Portugal ports began their strikes on Monday, 16 September. This round of strikes is expected to end today, 18 September. The strikes impact the movement of vessels in and out of the ports. Further strikes are planned from 23-25 September and 30 October.

UK

Felixstowe: The terminal continually faces resource constraints, resulting in delayed calls and reduced productivity. This week, the A14 in Suffolk has a lane closed on the Orwell Bridge, creating congestion on the roads carrying cargo via the Port of Felixstowe. National Highways will perform repair works between Friday, 13 September and Thursday, 19 September 2024. Weather permitting, the road is scheduled to fully reopen on Thursday,19 September, by 05:00. 

Liverpool: Heavy winds resulted in intermittent closures at the port this week.

North America

Canada

Average rail dwell times:

• Vancouver - 14 days
• Halifax - 8 days
• Montreal - 9 days
• Prince Rupert - 9 days

USA

Port operators prepare for strikes amidst lack of progress on US East Coast labour talks. The strikes, which could take place as early as 1 October, are also expected to close five of the 10 busiest ports in North America, including New York and Charleston. 

Furthermore, operations at the ports in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, which have hybrid work patterns and employ both union and non-union workers, may be significantly impacted. Read more

Houston: The 2-day average vessel waiting time is around 2 days due to the aftermath of Hurricane Francine.

South and Central America 

Chile

Several ports will experience reduced operations from 18 to 20 September due to public holidays. For more details, refer to our previous port update.

Mexico

Lazaro Cardenas:  The yard occupancy is around 96%. However, vessels arriving out of window wait up to 4 days. Severe weather caused additional delays. 

Veracruz: The average 7-day vessel waiting time is around 2 days due to the aftermath of the severe weather in week 36 and resulting crane issues.