Middle East ports are heavily congested, ships cannot wait for berths, and shipping companies are restricting bookings

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Congestion at container ports in the Middle East continues to increase. On November 3, shipping media Splash Ports reported that, The waiting time for ships at some major regional gateway ports has exceeded a week. The pressure on the shipping side is being transmitted to land logistics.

According to data from Kuehne + Nagel, as of October 30, the average waiting time for berthing at the Kharfakkan Port in the United Arab Emirates was 7.25 days; in the past 30 days, the average arrival delay of ships at the port was 7.4 days, and the departure delay was 5.7 days.

The average waiting time for container ships at Fujairah Port in the previous seven days was 8.86 days, with arrival delays of 7.58 days and departure delays of 7.65 days. The waiting time at Sharjah Port is about 3 days, but arrival and departure delays have exceeded 4 days in the past 30 days.

The port of Fujairah still restricts the unloading of foreign cargo, dangerous goods and special equipment. The volume of cargo transferred from other hubs is superimposed, further increasing the pressure on terminal operations.

The impact of congestion is no longer limited to terminals. For containers transshipped from Khor Fakkan and Fujairah to Jebel Ali, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other places, the original transshipment time of about 5 days was delayed to 12 to 15 days, and the efficiency of the land route dropped significantly.

Surrounding ports are also under pressure. Hapag-Lloyd's operational report shows that the storage yard density of Oman's Salalah Port reaches 84%, and the maximum berthing delay is about 36 hours; the berth delay of Sohar Port is about 2 to 3 days; the storage yard density of Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Port reaches a maximum of 76%.

Shipping companies have begun to tighten booking and cargo flow arrangements. Maersk announced on October 30 that due to continued disturbances in the Strait of Hormuz and regional port congestion, it would temporarily adjust booking acceptance and cargo flows for Khor Fakkan, Fujairah and some upper Gulf destinations.

New bookings will be processed based on available capacity. The revised booking cannot be regarded as automatically postponed to subsequent voyages, and the sailing schedule needs to be reconfirmed. Customers whose existing bookings are affected will be contacted directly by Maersk account managers to inform them of the solution and alternative arrangements. Cargo in transit may still be delayed and if the new delivery date cannot be confirmed, Maersk will explain this in the updated information.

For cargo owners and freight forwarders, they need to pay more attention to actual berthing, transshipment time and destination port restrictions, rather than just looking at the original booking information. It is recommended to arrange the shipment pace reasonably, evaluate alternative ports or land transshipment routes in advance, and reserve buffer time for delivery.