At least 35 to 40 ships were at anchor off the US West Coast this week as the congestion at ports continues in the US and spreads to ports beyond North America, even as rates on the two major trades out of China to the US and Europe fell.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]Much of the congestion in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area has been caused by the lay-off, due to Covid-19 infections, of more than 700 skilled dock workers, according to Jon Monroe from Worldwide Logistics, who added that the marine terminals have run out of space for storage and the truck queues at the gates are very long, while there is a continued shortage of chassis.
Source US Coast Guard
“Due to the complexity of the South California ports (multiple terminals operating a landlord model), the situation is more difficult to resolve quickly. Of course, add to these points the fact that 45% to 50% of this country’s imports are moving through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports,” added Monroe.
Meanwhile, rates out of Asia have seen a decline since the end of February with the Pacific eastbound trades seeing spot rates declining from a peak of US$4,922/FEU on 26 February to US$4,197/FEU on 4 March, according to the Frieghtos Baltic Index (FBX). However, by the 5 March spot rates had spiked again reaching US$4,709/FEU.
On the Far East to Europe trades spot rates had topped US$8,306/FEU, but had fallen by US$432 to end the week at US$7,874/FEU according to the FBX.
Nick Savvides
Managing Editor
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