90% of container ships are delayed!

The congestion at the Singapore port has climbed to the highest peak since the outbreak of the epidemic. This severe situation directly reflects that in order to avoid the risk of attacks in the Red Sea region, ships have been forced to adopt a detour strategy for a long time, which has seriously disrupted the global shipping order, causing Asia and Other major ports in Europe have encountered operational bottlenecks.

Singapore’s Transport Minister Chee Fong Tat said,At present, about 90% of container ships fail to arrive in Singapore as expected.

At the same time, many consumer-oriented companies are planning to replenish their inventory during the peak sales season at the end of the year. However, these retailers, manufacturers and other related industries that rely heavily on large container ships for cargo transportation have once again had to face multiple challenges such as soaring freight rates, severe port congestion, and container supply shortages.

According to maritime data agency Linerlytica, global port congestion has hit an 18-month high, with 60% of ships parked in Asia. As of the end of June, ships with a total capacity of more than 2.4 million TEU were waiting at ports.

However, the biggest difference between this time and the epidemic is that the reason for the port congestion is not the buying frenzy of consumers at home. Instead, ships have changed to take longer routes in Africa to avoid attacks by armed groups in the Red Sea, which has shortened the sailing time of ships. was disrupted.

Singapore's Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat revealed in a written reply to relevant inquiries that due to the crisis in the Red Sea region, about 90% of container ships currently fail to arrive in Singapore as expected. This proportion is compared with the average level in 2023. (about 77%) has increased significantly. It highlights the challenges and uncertainties currently faced by the maritime industry.

"The ongoing impact of the Red Sea crisis has forced ships sailing between Asia and Europe to detour around the Cape of Good Hope. This change has directly led to more serious shipping delays in many ports around the world. At the same time, a large number of ships have concentrated in a short period of time "

Singapore's Minister of Transport, Chee Hong Tat, emphasized that this situation has significantly increased the demand and operational difficulty of handling containers at Singapore terminals. He further explained: “In order to speed up the return of ships to Europe, liner companies have chosen Singapore as an important transshipment hub. Although this has enhanced the strategic status of the Singapore port, it has also extended the operating time of container ships in the port, which has triggered a chain reaction. ——The waiting time for ships entering the port has increased, and the problem of berth congestion has become increasingly serious.”

Faced with this challenge, he made it clear that the Ministry of Transport, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) are "working closely" to find and implement effective solutions to alleviate congestion at the port. , to restore normal shipping order.

Xu Fangda elaborated on a series of measures and future plans taken by the Singapore Port to cope with current challenges. Singapore has restarted some berths and yards at Keppel Terminal and Tanjong Pagar Terminal in the city to enhance processing capacity. PSA has significantly improved the operating efficiency of its terminals since the beginning of the year and plans to further expand capacity in the coming months to cope with the expected increase in demand. It is particularly worth mentioning that the construction of Tuas Port is progressing smoothly. Three new berths will be put into operation this year. The first berth is expected to be put into use this week, and the subsequent two will be put into use in October and December respectively. PSA also said that if demand continues to rise, it will accelerate the development of additional processing capacity.

He also emphasized: "Pasir Panjang Terminal will serve as a solid backing during the construction of Tuas Port and operate until at least 2040, ensuring that the port's container handling capacity will not decline during this period, but will continue to grow until Tuas Port is fully completed. By then its annual throughput will reach an astonishing 65 million TEU.”

Regarding current operating conditions, he pointed out: "In the first five months of this year, Singapore's container throughput increased by 7.7% year-on-year to 16.9 million TEU. Although our efforts have improved the average waiting time this month (June), the Red Sea crisis "There will be no relief soon and the continued impact and surge in cargo volumes caused by cargo owners to ship ahead for the holidays may still exacerbate port congestion."

Although the overall market trend has adjusted, the performance of the US East route is still particularly strong, with the freight rate of 40-foot containers approaching US,000, setting a new high since late June 2022.

In the past, the traditional operating mode of ships at large transshipment ports such as Singapore was to unload cargo and then reload it onto other ships for final transportation. As the global logistics chain becomes tense, it has been severely challenged. Nowadays, in order to avoid delays and catch up with shipping schedules, many cargoes choose to abandon subsequent sailings in Singapore, resulting in a significant increase in the average unloading volume of Singapore ports, which even soared by 22% between January and May this year. This phenomenon has a negative impact on the port’s productivity. Caused huge pressure.

As the world's second largest container port, Singapore has recently faced particularly serious port congestion problems. Although the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said at the end of May that the average waiting time for container ships was two to three days, actual delays can be up to a week, far longer than the usual one day, according to data from ship tracking companies Linerlytica and PortCast. vessel berthing time.

The congestion has also triggered a chain reaction, forcing some ships to abandon berthing in Singapore and instead head to other neighboring ports, such as Port Klang and Port Tanjung Papas in Malaysia, but the carrying capacity of these ports has also been tested. There has also been increased congestion. In addition, wait times at Chinese ports are gradually lengthening, reflecting the spread and complexity of global supply chain tensions.