9.3 C
Hamburg
Monday, June 9, 2025
Home Services Blank Sailings Red Sea crisis and port congestion drive blank sailing surge

Red Sea crisis and port congestion drive blank sailing surge

Box lines are tradionally using blank sailings to manage supply in relation to demand, but during the pandemic, shipping lines were forced to blank sailings despite high demand and high freight rates, as endemic port congestion created a shortage of available vessel capacity.

The current round of blank sailings is also driven by a shortage of vessel capacity, as the idle container vessel fleet was at a very low 0.9% in April, according to Sea-Intelligence report.

The Danish analysts said, “We analysed the actual capacity deployment of March and April 2024, and compared it to what the shipping lines had scheduled in mid-February 2024, for the Asia-Europe and Transpacific trades.”

Source: Sea-Intelligence.com, Sunday Spotlight, issue 664

As shown in the figure, on Asia-North Europe, the ratio of blanked capacity essentially doubled from March to April, from a -12% blank share to -21%. For Asia-Mediterranean we see the opposite, as the share of blank capacity goes from -17% in March to -8% in April.

On Transpacific, we see a much more stable development, with a capacity reduction of around -14% to the West Coast, and -11% to the East Coast, for both March and April 2024.

“This indicates a much more unstable operating environment in Asia-Europe than on Transpacific,” pointed out Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence.

He went on to add, “With virtually no idle vessels, and with spot rates increasing sharply in recent weeks, this increase in blank sailings is driven by the Red Sea crisis. Port congestion is worsening in key hubs in both Asia and Europe. And as was clearly seen during the pandemic, port congestion soaks up supply and leads to potential capacity shortages.”

Murphy concluded, “As we have said since the start of the Red Sea Crisis: There is sufficient capacity to divert vessels around Africa, but not enough additional slack to deal with other major disruptions. Port congestion therefore needs to be brought under control, or spot rates could escalate even further, and quite quickly.”





Latest Posts

Port of Long Beach appoints new managing director of engineering services

The Port of Long Beach has appointed Suzanne Plezia, P.E., as its new Managing Director of Engineering Services, succeeding Sean Gamette, P.E., who announced...

DP World and J.P. Morgan launch partnership

DP World Trade Finance has joined forces with J.P. Morgan to enhance access to working capital across emerging markets, addressing the persistent global trade...

Red Sea shipping traffic rebounds as Houthis limit targets

Red Sea maritime traffic has increased by 60% to approximately 36–37 vessels per day since August 2024, as Reuters reported. However, it still falls short...

CMA CGM applies new surcharge from Far East to West Africa

French ocean carrier CMA CGM has announced a peak season surcharge (PSS) for shipments from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, China and Hong Kong &...

China to counterbalance Panama setback through South America projects

As geopolitical tensions deepen and shipping lanes become politicized battlegrounds, China is recalibrating its approach to the Western Hemisphere. The recent retreat of CK Hutchison...
error: Content is protected !!