Severe congestion has spread to Mediterranean and South African ports! Container backlog will not be relieved until the middle of next year

The global container port congestion crisis has reportedly been plaguing the supply chain for a year, and now congestion is spreading to new hotspots. In addition to the familiar congested ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, other ports such as Piraeus and Port Klang are now joining the congestion ranks.

Exclusive data released yesterday by Danish liner consultancy eeSea shows the areas with the worst ship congestion, while showing improvements in previous congestion at ports such as the Port of Savannah in the U.S. East. As congestion spreads out from southern California, the Mediterranean and South African coastlines are also experiencing increasing congestion, as shown in the following chart.

Severe congestion has spread to Mediterranean and South African ports! Container backlogs will not be relieved until the middle of next year

From these data from eeSea, Malaysia's Port Klang is suffering from severe congestion, with 32 container ships waiting for berths. And in Southern Europe, the ports of Algeria and Piraeus are growing congestion hotspots.

A report last month by Project44, a shipper visibility platform, showed that the Port of Klang experienced the largest increase in blanket sailings in 2021, with the port experiencing a 980% increase in blanket sailings in the first 10 months of this year.

Severe congestion has spread to Mediterranean and South African ports! Container backlogs won't ease until the middle of next year

Meanwhile, a 48-hour strike at the Greek port of Piraeus this month has added to the chaos of an already poor ship sailing schedule. Recent strike action in Algeria has also increased congestion outside the southern Spanish ports.

In addition, the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, which has been mired in severe congestion, is struggling to ease landside traffic congestion while facing a backlog of more than 100 container ships, including unloading and trucking out cargo to those ships. Logistics experts say the current backlog of containers will take until the middle of next year to clear due to a historic surge in U.S. imports.

The number of container ships waiting for berths outside the LA-LB port was reported yesterday as 101, and while the exact number of containers carried is uncertain, the capacity of these ships adds up to about 800,000 teu, according to the Southern California Maritime Exchange.

John Esborn, director of logistics for e-commerce aggregator Perch, said a shipping company source estimated that the current backlog would take more than five months to clear, and only if there were no more shipments booked in Asia.

As for the traditionally slow Lunar New Year shipping activity, he said many importers will be racing to bring a new wave of shipments to U.S. ports ahead of the spring shipping season. "I don't see any slowdown in March, April and May next year as people add to their inventories," Esborn said.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)