Congestion at ports on both sides of the Atlantic is slowing trade between Europe and North America and throwing out container line schedules. “Congestion has worsened in the northern Europe-US east coast trade, where carriers get a double whammy on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean,” said analysts at Alphaliner. “Increased waiting times in ports such as Savannah, Houston and New York add to the vessels delays experienced in the big northern European hubs.”

Alphaliner said containerships deployed on regular alliance services on the transatlantic trade needed 52 days for a roundtrip on average. “This means they arrive 13 days too late in Europe for their next voyage, up from nine days in October last year,” it said. Delays varied by alliance, with 2M partners Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co suffering the most from congestion on the transatlantic. “Despite skipping a call at Mobile, the 8,044 teu Maersk Kleven (IMO: 9085546) arrived in Antwerp on 21 July after an 87-day round voyage, while the pro forma schedule provides for 42 days.”

Smaller delays for The Alliance and the Ocean Alliance carriers on the transatlantic were partly due to the skipping of port calls, it added. The OOCL-operated 6,078 teu Brussels (IMO: 9200691), for example, was the only ship on the transatlantic trade to arrive back in Antwerp without delay, but this was purely because it omitted Houston and New Orleans after calls at only Veracruz and Altamira.

The disruption at ports, partially driven by shippers redirecting cargoes from the US west coast to the east coast, was taking capacity out of the system as well, according to Flexport transatlantic trade manager Flavia Buso. “We don’t expect any steep erosion or decline in rates on this trade because capacity is very tight,” she said. “We hear carriers reporting vessels fully booked until mid-September on some voyages.”

But it is not just congestion in the US causing concerns. “One element that is clearly influencing the capacity is the port and terminal congestion in northern Europe,” said Ms Buso. “Labour strikes in Germany and in Benelux counties have caused some cargo backlog and we have seen several shipping lines resetting their schedules to make them closer to the actual sailing dates.”

The current low water level on the river Rhine was also affecting much of the cargo moving via intermodal services. “Right now, the water level is at critical level and that is limiting barge capacity. On some services barges are loading at 50% of their capacity or even less. The consequence of this is that we are seeing demand for rail and road transport picking up, and their price levels.” This was then putting additional pressure on container terminals, as the inability to move containers through the hinterland led to higher density in yards and longer dwell times, slowing terminal operations and causing delays in ships berthing. This was happening both sides of the Atlantic, Ms Buso said. “At the moment we are seeing long waiting times of up to a week for vessels to find a berth at Montreal. If we focus on the east coast of the US we have a critical situation in New York, Savannah, and Houston. That’s why we’re seeing vessel queues. There are more than 40 vessels waiting to discharge off Savannah.”