European port congestion continues to worsen, with workforce constraints “exceeding forecasts” in Bremerhaven, and stakeholders having “very limited” options, according to Flexport.
In yesterday’s European Freight Market Update, Jannik Amstutz, senior manager of ocean freight, Germany, at Flexport, said: “We are averaging roughly about five to six days’ congestion, depending on destination.
“As much as we appreciate the nice weather, too little rain is not helping the Rhine levels to allow us to use barges to the full extent, especially from Antwerp and Rotterdam. So, this is likely to impact the congestion,” he added.
Earlier this week, Danish carrier Maersk advised that Bremerhaven had experienced “a sharp and unexpected decline in labour availability during Easter and Whit Monday and Ascension Day holidays”.
And it warned: “Although seasonal variations are accounted for in our planning, the scale of this year’s reduction has exceeded forecasts. With additional holidays approaching, further workforce constraints are anticipated.”
To mitigate disruption, Maersk has extended its contingency measures to the end of May, “when terminal productivity is expected to return to normal levels”.
As part of these measures, the carrier’s AE5 service is being temporarily extended from Bremerhaven to Nordic terminals on its route of Qingdao-Yantian-Tanjung Pelepas-London Gateway-Bremerhaven-Hamburg.
Interestingly, Bremerhaven is also a key transhipment hub in the Gemini network for connecting Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s deepsea services with the partnership’s Baltic and Scandinavian shuttles.
“Please rest assured that our teams remain in close contact with terminal operators and are doing everything possible to manage the situation and reduce delays,” Maersk said.
Mr Amstutz warned that for European importers “it’s difficult to search for an alternative port to unload your goods”.
He said: “You have ports where there is less congestion, but we are talking about one or two days, so the impact is still there. And if you keep in mind that you have ports that are called first, usually Rotterdam is one of those, you lose the benefit,” he explained.
Usually, for cargo imports to “some parts of Europe”, including Austria, Switzerland and Germany, “the Mediterranean ports have been a tool to avoid congestion in North Europe”, said Mr Amstutz. “But that was at a time where you transited the Suez Canal. It then took longer and, depending on where your warehouse is located, meant slightly higher charges.
“So, due to the Red Sea situation, this benefit is not really there at the moment because you have the longer transit times also to the Med.
“For now, I would say in terms of ocean shipping to North Europe, the alternatives are very limited,” he concluded.
