Port congestion is spreading across the globe, with more and more container ships on five continents waiting to berth.
The logistics giant Kuehne+Nagel's container shipping platform sea explorer has released a map highlighting the current ultra-high pressure scenario at container ports around the world.
As of 3:20 p.m. Singapore time on the 21st, there were 328 ships stranded in ports worldwide, 116 ports reported the presence of congestion and other problems, and more than 300 ships were affected.
According to the latest statistics, 18 ships are lined up off the coast of Los Angeles, with an average wait time of nearly five days for a berth.
According to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, containers were stranded at the Los Angeles-Long Beach terminal for an average of 4.76 days in June, up from 3.96 days the previous month.
IHS Markit's port performance data shows that as of May of this year, the time container ships are waiting to anchor has more than doubled compared to 2019.
For North America, the average time a vessel spends at anchor in May 2021 is 33 hours, compared to an average of eight hours in May 2019.
With the continued influx of cargo from China, Vietnam and other Asian ports, congestion on the U.S. West Coast has worsened and
Terminals are already overwhelmed, storage space is running out, and transportation, including truck and rail, continues to be strained.
Union Pacific temporarily halted container rail traffic from western ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach this week to clear containers near Chicago.
In recent weeks, many other national and regional ports have also been under significant pressure due to the outbreak.
Port congestion and higher freight rates are likely to dominate the second half of FY21 and the first half of FY22.
