Air
Trans-pacific: The market has seen extreme increases in pricing and capacity over the last 2 weeks. Air export demand has continued to increase with major capacity issues at Shanghai Pudong Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport and Hong Kong International Airport. Cathay Pacific has been forced to cancel 10 weekly freighter frequencies to the US to comply with crew regulations in Hong Kong. The backed-up cargo is a week behind with local warehouses unable to accommodate further overflow.
Europe: The Trans-Atlantic market remains strained as export demand shows continued strength to the U.S. and Asia. Capacity to the U.S. West Coast is extremely limited. Airports ORD, JFK and ATL experienced relief as a slight influx of new capacity from additional PAX and freighter flights. Capacity to Asia remains at a premium as carriers on TAWB and FEEB are reporting load factors remaining steady at nearly 90% load rates.
Americas:
TPWB The market is strong in both directions for the Asian and European markets. The continued lack of lower deck capacity will likely continue to keep rates elevated throughout the summer. ORD and LAX airports continue to see capacity issues as local warehouses and ground handlers are overwhelmed by the volume of freighter flights.
TPEB Capacity currently available to Continental Europe and the U.K., but aircraft continue to fly at high load factors. Carriers continue to push to delay passenger services due to ongoing COVID lockdowns and it is unclear how long these delays will persist.
Ocean
Transpacific Eastbound: Spot market pricing and premium rates remain elevated, and increases are likely given the extenuating circumstances across all markets. Space out of Asian base ports into most North America East and West Coasts are booked to capacity, forcing many shippers to pay premium rates. Even with premium booking fees, it is difficult to secure bookings. One of the main issues contributing to booking challenges is limited inland & rail services to the Midwest, due to equipment shortages. COSCO, EMC, ONE, YML, and OOCL have begun refusing rail service. MSC is looking to increase premiums to offer moves into USEC ports experiencing the biggest capacity issues (BAL, SAV, NYC). Janel Group is keeping a close eye on this and will report changes in real time.
General Rate Increases (GRI): Carriers have indicated the announced GRIs for April 15 will be implemented in response to the ripple effects caused by the Suez Canal congestion.
Peak Season Surcharge (PSS): Some carriers continue to implement PSS, and other partial increases. With the Suez Canal situation and other market strains, demand and price pressures continue to build.
Suez Canal Update: The passage has been cleared and the backlog of traffic continues to be processed. The staggering impacts of the grounding continue to emerge and are having a staggering impact with over 400 vessels of all types - 875,000 TEU of container capacity - coming to a six-day standstill. An estimated 20-30% of global supply is expected to be disrupted for several months. Delays of at least 2-3 weeks are expected for vessels re-routed via the Cape of Good Hope. Trade lanes will continue to be starved of capacity and container replenishment for weeks to come.
COVID-19 related issues Maersk has confirmed the vessel MAERSK ATHABASCA, deployed on their elephant service voyage 112W, has been diverted to India due to cases of COVID-19 onboard while routing from Malaysia to Sri Lanka. We are actively monitoring the situation and reaching out to clients affected.
Operational blank sailings: The result of the months’ long congestion issues at US ports have continued throughout March on the Asia-US trade, compromising any efforts to find consistency in capacity deployment on the trade during a strong post-holiday demand recovery. Aided in part by an average void of 45,000 TEU per week since mid-February, carrier load factors are now back to 100 percent, and space availability is nearing pre-holiday scarcity as peak volume conditions continue. Cancelled sailings are expected to spike again in the coming weeks with the 6-day closure of the Suez Canal caused by the grounded vessel Ever Given. Up to 25% of transpacific capacity may be operationally blanked in the coming weeks due of delays to Suez-transiting vessels either directly or indirectly linked to Asia-East Coast and West Coast pendulum services, in addition to the cancelled sailings.
Equipment Returns and Import dwell time of containers: Vessels continue to sit at anchor in the ports of LA/LB and Oakland. Carriers are reporting average times of 20 days in LA/LB and 4 days in Oakland.
The U.S. Market
Conditions at U.S. West and East coasts remain extremely congested and without improvement over the last two weeks.
We continue to receive updates from our local stations across the U.S. regarding the current rate increases, capacity issues, equipment shortages, and many other extenuating factors.
West Coast: Currently booking 3-5 weeks in advance. Port and trucking capacity remains at critical capacity in LA/LB ports, chassis shortage and congestion due to COVID-related stresses continue. Currently, 22 vessels are anchored off the coast of LA/LB and 18 outside Oakland, with another 9 waiting outside in drift boxes.
South-West: Currently booking 1-2 weeks in advance. Houston Port conditions appear normal, but subject to short notice change.
Mid-West: Currently booking 2-4 weeks in advance, with continued equipment shortages.
South-East: Currently booking 3-5 weeks in advance with last-minute bookings and appointment requests being nearly impossible to secure, especially at normal rate levels. The situation at the ports of Savannah and Charleston remains dire. Savannah is reporting 13 vessels anchored outside, with Charleston and Norfolk reporting a few vessels, respectively.
East Coast: Currently booking 2-4 weeks in advance. NY/NJ experiencing 12-day dwell time on terminal for inbound rail cargo. Smaller ports continue to be overwhelmed with the volume and are being pulled from certain loops and sailing schedules to avoid compounding delays, with Port Conley at Boston reporting this most frequently.