The Port congestion around the world, importer and exporter should make plans in advance

Port congestion around the world in recent times,according to the latest data from Drewry Maritime Consulting, the global average waiting time for container ships in ports has reached 10.2 days.   Among these, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have waits as high as 21.7 days and 16.3 days respectively, while the ports of Shanghai and Singapore have also reached 14.1 days and 9.2 days respectively.

In particular, container congestion at the Port of Singapore has reached an unprecedented critical level.  According to Linerlytica's latest report, the number of containers at the Port of Singapore is increasing sharply and congestion is extremely severe.  A large number of ships are queuing outside the port waiting to berth, and the backlog of containers exceeds a staggering 450,000 TEUs, which will put great pressure on the supply chain throughout the Pacific region.

At the same time, more than 90 ships are waiting outside the port of Durban due to extreme weather conditions and equipment failures at port operator Transnet.

But perhaps the worst is yet to come.

The threat of a Canadian rail strike and contract negotiations for dock workers in the eastern and southern United States have also left importers and exporters concerned about the market situation in the second half of the year.  In addition, the problem of port congestion in Asia is unlikely to be alleviated in the short term as the peak shipping season arrives ahead of schedule.  This means that shipping costs are likely to continue to rise in the short term and the stability of the global supply chain will also face greater challenges.  

This is a reminder that domestic importers and exporters need to pay attention to freight information in a timely manner and make import and export plans in advance.