Shipping attention! Multi country port congestion, additional fees increase!

Recently, Roger Storey, general manager of CF Sharp Crew Management, a Filipino seafarer dispatch company, revealed that more than 40 ships sailed to the Philippine Port of Manila every day for crew changes, which led to serious congestion at the port.

However, not only Manila, but some ports are also suffering from congestion. The current congested ports are as follows:

1. Congestion at Port of Los Angeles: Truckers or strike

Although the peak holiday season in the United States has not yet arrived, due to the preparations for the shopping months of November and December in advance, sellers are trying to find ways to replenish and stock up. The momentum of the peak freight season has begun to appear, and port congestion has become increasingly serious.

August is usually the peak month for shipping by sea. With the increase in the number of out-of-the-box shipments, shipping space is now exploding, trailers are tight, and cabinets are being dumped severely. Sea freight is continuing to increase.

It is understood that many Amazon goods are now backlogged in the Los Angeles warehouse, and the processing center is overloaded.

An insider said that due to the large number of goods sent to Los Angeles by sea, the port terminal was congested, and the supply of truck drivers was in short supply.

Due to the large number of goods and the lack of drivers, the supply and demand of trucks in Los Angeles is currently in an extremely unbalanced state. In August, the long-distance truck freight has soared to a record high.

Adding insult to injury, the Intermodal Motor Carriers Chamber (IMCC) of the American Trucking Association (ATA) filed a lawsuit against foreign shipping lines for "illegal practices."

Bill Sullivan, ATA's executive vice president of communications: " These shipping companies don't let truck drivers choose equipment suppliers in the port and inland areas, and require truck drivers to use specific chassis, which forces American truck drivers and American consumers have subsidized nearly $1.8 billion in the past three years alone."

"This situation must end, and after several attempts to reach a mutually beneficial solution, we are now asking the FMC to resolve this issue. Otherwise, truckers will plan to strike," Sullivan said.

2. Los Angeles small shippers: surcharge increased to $5,000

According to JOC.com, Los Angeles Railroad wrote in an Aug. 27 advisory to Intermodal Marketing Corporation (IMC): "The Pacific Union sees increased demand for current domestic container capacity.

In an effort to increase capacity for scheduled baseload volumes, we are increasing surcharges for customers shipping standard and MCP totals in the Los Angeles market. "

Effective Aug. 30, Union Pacific Railroad will increase the over-contract cargo surcharge to $5,000 for small carriers in Los Angeles and $1,500 for all other domestic carriers.

According to the UP price list obtained by JOC.com, intermodal prices from Los Angeles to Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago will exceed $7,500 in the spot market in early September, with surcharges for small shippers exceeding $10,000.

UP has also assessed a $500 surcharge for excess cargo outside Northern California and will impose a similar fee in Seattle starting Sept. 6.

3. Manila port congestion: more than 40 ships per day

Recently, Roger Storey, general manager of CF Sharp Crew Management, a Philippine seaman dispatch company, said in an interview with shipping media IHS Maritime Safety:

At present, there is serious traffic congestion in the Port of Manila. Every day, more than 40 ships sail to Manila for crew changes. The average waiting time for ships exceeds one day, which leads to serious congestion in the port.

If the sailing schedule is tight, calling at the port of Manila becomes unfeasible for crew changes, as the average stay of a vessel can exceed two days, even weather permitting. Therefore, shipowners and charterers must take into account possible commercial implications.

According to the ship dynamic information provided by IHS Markit AISLive, there were 152 ships in Manila Port on August 28, and another 238 ships were coming.

From August 1 to 18, a total of 2,197 ships arrived. A total of 3,415 ships arrived at the Port of Manila in July, up from 2,279 in June.

4. Lagos port congestion: Ships wait 50 days

Dynamar publishes regional reports throughout the year, and the group’s latest analysis for West Africa shows that congestion, particularly at Nigerian ports, continues , but stakeholders are too busy blaming others rather than developing solutions.

The service has been diverted from the port of Apapa in Lagos to a port 1,500 kilometers south of Lagos in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo, before transshipment back to Nigeria.

Vardi, a senior shipping analyst and consultant at Dynamar, said: “The waiting time for ships at the Lagos port is reported to have reached fifty (50) days, and it is said that about 1,000 container trucks of export cargo are stuck on the way to the port. Side.": No one clears customs, the port becomes a warehouse, and the Lagos port is seriously congested!

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has blamed APM Terminals, which operates the Apapa Terminal in Lagos, for lack of container handling equipment that has resulted in a backlog of cargo at the port.

Previously, the Guardian interviewed relevant workers at the Nigerian terminal and learned:

In Nigeria, dockage is about $457 and shipping is $374, while local shipping from port to warehouse is about $2,050.

An intelligence report by SBM also showed that shipments from the EU to Nigeria were more expensive compared to shipments from Ghana and South Africa.

According to The Guardian, the ultimate solution to Nigeria's West Africa traffic congestion must be for regulators to work with liner operators and terminals, as well as those working through customs and other processes to find a solution.

5. Algeria: Changes to Port Congestion Surcharge

In early August, Bejaia port workers staged a 19-day strike, which ended on August 20. But as a result the port's current vessel berthing sequence suffers from severe congestion between 7 and 10 days, with the following impacts:

1. Delay in the delivery time of ships arriving at the port;

2. The frequency of reinstallation/replacement of empty equipment is affected;

3. Increased operating costs;

Therefore, the port stipulates that ships from all over the world to Bejaia need to submit a congestion surcharge , which is 100 US dollars / 85 euros per box. The application period starts on August 24, 2020.

6. The crew was diagnosed with the new crown: they had called at Qingdao Port, Shanghai Port, and Ningbo Port

On August 25, Hapag-Lloyd announced on its official website that two crew members of its 8,600TEU container ship "SOFIA EXPRESS" tested positive for nucleic acid in the Port of Vancouver.

It is reported that the container ship "SOFIA EXPRESS" is a ship deployed by Hepag to serve the Pacific North Loop 4 (PN4) route.

According to the big shipping schedule data, the ship "SOFIA EXPRESS" has called at Qingdao Port, Shanghai Port and Ningbo Port.

As of 21:00 on August 27th, the ship that was supposed to leave the port on the 25th was still at anchor. The ship "Sofia Express" was delayed in Vancouver due to terminal congestion before berthing, but fortunately, the cargo loading and unloading operations have been completed. .

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