Overall Port Congestion

Kuehne+Nagel's Disruption Indicator reflects the daily fluctuation in port congestion at hot spot ports worldwide. The indicator measures disruption in TEU waiting days by combining data on the number of vessels waiting at a port, their TEU capacities, and the number of waiting days. Under normal circumstances, the TEU waiting days would be around one million. 

Overall the disruption indicator improved by 277,000 TEU waiting days this week to 2,356,000 TEU waiting days.

For North American ports, the indicator improved from last week's 547,000 TEU waiting days to around 427,000 TEU. Contributing to the improvement are reduced vessel waiting times and the number of waiting vessels in Houston, Charleston, New York, Oakland, Prince Rupert and the Seattle-Vancouver area.

On the other hand, 5 vessels are waiting outside Savannah today compared to 2 last week. In addition, the improvement at North American ports was offset by some increased congestion in the Hong Kong-Yantian area, where the number of vessels waiting today is 57. Congestion in the Shanghai-Ningbo area remains roughly the same as last week, with a total of 443,436 TEU waiting on 88 vessels.

Operational News

Africa

South Africa

Vessel waiting times at South African ports remain elevated this week with some improvements. Durban improved slightly to 3.5 days. Vessels outside Cape Town wait on average 5 days. The waiting time for Port Elizabeth improved from 4 days last week to around 3 days this week.

Johannesburg: Maersk will switch its rail volumes from the inland container yard in City Deep Inland Rail Terminal to Grindrod Logistics Denver starting 1 September.

Tanzania

Dar-es-Salaam: The 7-day average vessel waiting time increased at the port to around 6 days. This is a result of dredging works, yard congestion, and slow productivity.

Europe

Rhine River: A hot summer and inadequate rainfall has reduced water levels of the Rhine, restricting barge capacity between Antwerp/Rotterdam to/from inland ports in Germany, France, and Switzerland.

Turkey

Ambarli: Maersk reports additional waiting times for feeder vessels of 3-4 days at Ambarli. This is due to high yard congestion, which is slowing down operations. The delays have resulted in missed transhipments, reports the carrier. Maersk expects the situation to continue for the upcoming weeks.

Iskenderun: The 7-day average vessel waiting time increased significantly at the port over the last week to almost 7 days. The delays are a result of increased volume arriving in Iskenderun and some equipment issues.

Mersin: Move counts are still restricted in Mersin. The 7-day average vessel waiting time increased slightly from 4 days last week to 4.5 days this week.

Oceania

Australia

Brisbane: On 24 and 25 August, maintenance and inspections will be carried out at Brisbane terminals as follows: 

Thursday, 24 August:

• Poseidon Sea Pilots intend to stop work for 24 hours starting at 00:01 (AEST)
• DP World will roll inspection modules from 09:00 to 13:30 (AEST)
• DP World terminal will be offline from 12:00 to 16:00 (AEST), and gates will be closed for the duration of the outage

Friday, 25 August:

• Patrick Terminal will be closed for maintenance from 07:00 to 15:00 (AEST)

These interruptions could delay operations and container pick-ups/drop-offs over these two days.

North America

Canada

Prince Rupert-Vancouver: Further recovery in vessel waiting time this week at both Canadian west coast ports. The 7-day average vessel waiting time improved from under 3 days last week to around 2 days this week for Vancouver and Prince Rupert. According to Kuehne+Nagel data, the average import dwell time for rail is currently 10 days for both ports.

Wildfires have forced the closure of part of the TransCanada highway near Chase, around 400 km northeast of Vancouver. The highway is a key route for trucks heading to and from Vancouver.

In addition, CPKC communicated a rail outage on the Thompson Subdivision occurred on the morning of 18 August, between North Bend and Keefers. Delays can be expected while inspection and repairs are carried out.

USA

LA-Long Beach: Tropical storm Hilary brought adverse weather to the southern Californian coast over the weekend. The ports were closed on Sunday and resumed operations on Monday morning. According to seaexplorer data, there are currently 4 vessels waiting in the San Pedro Bay area. No significant delays to cargo movement are expected at these ports. The current 7-day average vessel waiting time is under 2 days.

On the intermodal side, Union Pacific advised its track between Banning and Indio, California (Yuma subdivision) is out of service due to flooding. The rail operator expects the service to be restored in about two weeks.

US Gulf Coast

On Tuesday, storm Harold flooded a five-mile stretch of rail track in Corpus Christi, Texas. Union Pacific advises the line will remain out of service until the water recedes and the track can be inspected.

South America

Argentina

The border between Chile and Argentina remains closed until further notice. Heavy rainfall caused landslides in June, closing the border between the two countries. More severe weather is forecast for parts of central and north-eastern Chile and western Argentina until at least 24 August, which could prolong the closure.

Brazil

Manaus: An advisory from Maersk warns of draft restrictions during the dry season for vessels using the Amazon to reach the inland port of Manaus. The season usually lasts 120 days between September and December. Data from the Brazilian National Water Agency (ANA) shows significantly lower water levels this year than in previous years. With this in mind, the carrier anticipates draft and capacity restrictions for Manaus and will launch a weekly service to Manaus in September.

Chile

A bad weather warning was issued from 21 August until 22 August at 22:00 for the following ports: Valparaiso, San Antonio, Lirquen, San Vincente, and Coronel.

• As a result of high swells, Valparaiso, San Vincente and Coronel were closed. All vessels in Valparaiso were asked to leave until the conditions improved.
• In San Antonio, both terminals were closed for berthing manoeuvres only.
• Lirquen remained operational during this period.

Additionally, operations stopped this week at Arica due to an accident during the third shift at TPA pier on 21 August.

Lastly, a damaged rail bridge at Longavi and Lircay has suspended empty container repositioning for Lirquen, San Vincente and Coronel until further notice

Panama

Panama Canal: The canal extended its Booking Condition 3 for the Panamax Locks until Saturday, 2 September. The restriction reduces the number of bookable slots to accommodate vessels that have not pre-announced their arrival. This restriction is meant to clear the backlog of vessels waiting to transit. Linerlytica reports that the restrictions have not resulted in delays to container vessels due to their priority status.

Other Port News

Asia

India

Vizhinjam: The first phase of the mega-transhipment port will begin operations in May 2024, according to reports. The Minister for Ports, Ahammed Devarkovil, announced that 90% of the construction is complete, and the port awaits delivery of new cranes in September. "Vizhinjam Port offers large-scale automation for quick turnaround of vessels with state-of-the-art infrastructure to handle Megamax container ships, " according to the developer Adnani Ports. "Its capacity in phase 1 is to be 1 million TEUs, and in subsequent phases, another 6.2 million TEUs will be added."

Vadhavan: Developers of India’s long-awaited deepwater port at Vadhavan have received approval for the construction of the multi-use port. The USD 9 billion facility will be developed and operated by a joint venture of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and the Maharashtra Maritime Board. Vadhavan will be located some 150 km north of Mumbai. It will have an annual capacity of 15 million TEU in the first phase, and 24 million TEU on completion.

Europe

Netherlands

Rotterdam: Evergreen has bought a 20% stake in Rotterdam’s Euromax terminal for EUR72.5m ($109m). The terminal, located in the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, is known for its advanced infrastructure and strategic location, facilitating efficient container handling and distribution across Europe. Evergreen's move is expected to enhance its operational efficiency and further optimise its supply chain management.

At the same time, Qatar's terminal operator QTerminals bought a majority stake in Kramer Holding - a provider of integrated logistics and container services based in the Port of Rotterdam. The agreement signed between the two establishments on 15 August is expected to pave the way for potential partnerships beyond the maritime sector, benefiting both Qatar and the Netherlands.