International Maritime
MSC ’ s new Britannia service will call Liverpool ( pictured ) and London- Gateway , as well as Rotterdam , Antwerp and Hamburg . Phil Silverman / Shutterstock . com strong westbound cargo demand , the additional sailings should help alleviate pressures on maritime transport supply ,” Alphaliner noted .
Exacerbating the supply-demand imbalance is the congestion affecting Asian ports of Singapore , Tanjung Pelepas , Port Klang , Shanghai and Ningbo , said Alberto Rivola , head of global ocean procurement at Italian forwarder Savino Del Bene .
“ There are a lot of sliding vessels , which are bringing the average transit time of a full Asia – Europe – Asia rotation to over 100 days ,” he told the Journal of Commerce June 12 .
Longer loops
Despite more than 1 million TEUs of capacity having already been delivered globally so far this year , another 2 million TEUs will come online before the end of the year . This additional capacity is adding to the number of ships
SE Asia port congestion delaying longer Asia – Europe voyages
Ratio of current median vessel waiting time to median weekly vessel waiting times for the last six months at select Southeast Asia ports
Index
2.5
2.0
1.7 1.5 0.5
1.0
0.5
0 L May Jun , 2024 Jun
Singapore Colombo Port Klang Ho Chi Minh City
L
deployed in service strings out of Asia .
On Asia – Europe , strings that were typically served by 10 to 12 ships are being extended to as many as 15 vessels to move the same amount of cargo , according to Hapag- Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen . But he told a briefing in early June that even with the additional ships , the longer voyages and port delays meant there was still less weekly capacity available .
“ There are quite simply not enough seats on the bus for all who want a ride .”
To better match capacity with demand , container carriers are being forced to turn to the increasingly more expensive charter market .
Alphaliner reports that container charters remain “ extremely bullish ” for non-operating shipowners on the back of a persistently high demand for tonnage across the board .
“ Charter rates continue to increase at a fast pace for most ship sizes and are again reaching short employments at stratospheric levels unseen since the post-COVID pandemic cargo boom ,” the analyst noted , pointing to reports of CMA CGM fixing a 7,000-TEU newbuilding for a threemonth charter at a rate of $ 105,000 per day .
“ As far as the outlook is concerned , the charter market is showing , for now , no sign of changing direction any time soon ,” Alphaliner wrote . “ Cargo demand remains strong , freight rates continue to climb , albeit at a slower pace , and trading disruptions including the Cape of Good Hope diversions , port congestion and equipment shortages are here to stay in the short term .”
Source : Portcast © 2024 S & P Global email : greg . knowler @ spglobal . com
16 Journal of Commerce | July 1 , 2024 www . joc . com