US & Europe Congestion Continues

Europe: After a weekend of hurricane-force storms, North European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom are beginning the recovery phase from the storms’ impact. The aftermath included severe flooding, damaged rail lines and multiple falling trees causing destruction to buildings and cars. Due to these severe weather conditions the terminal operations in the seaports of Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Bremerhaven, as well as the inland terminals, are experiencing heavy delays in the handling of barges, trains and trucks. This situation is not expected to improve in the next days, so please plan for delays if you have cargo coming out of this region.

US: At the end of last week, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles announced that they will put off consideration of the “Container Dwell Fee” one more week, until Feb. 25. The two San Pedro Bay ports have seen a combined decline of 71% in aging cargo on the docks since the program was announced on Oct. 25. As has been the case, the executive directors of both ports will reassess fee implementation after monitoring data over the next week.

Despite the continued postponement of LA/LB’s “Container Dwell Fee,” US ports continue to see record import volumes, and the issues of congestion and equipment availability continue to be prevalent at all major terminal locations including New York, Norfolk, Charleston, Miami, Houston, Seattle and, of course, Los Angeles/Long Beach. Many ports are citing labor shortages alongside the high import volume as the cause of this congestion. In addition, inland rail service is backed up due to the lack of available chassis for pickups, deliveries and drayage to/from rail terminals. Attached is one steamship line’s weekly report on the US congestion should you have questions about specific terminal locations.

We will continue to keep you updated on the global congestion situation, and please feel free to reach out with any questions.