Supply chain disruption hitting key markets such as North America and Europe are having trickle down effects in far smaller trades and economies that are also feeling the pinch of vessel delays, port congestion and equipment shortages. Even in New Zealand, which until recently has avoided the worst of the pandemic and its associated supply chain impacts, the fallout from the disruption to container shipping is being felt. The key container ports of Auckland and Tauranga are operating at reduced throughput as they face unreliable schedules from container lines.

“The trouble is the lines get the berth date/time and then miss it as they are trying to reschedule the vessel rotation,” said Mike Holden, logistics manager at New Zealand freight forwarder Export Brokers International. “Ningbo and Long Beach are also having a huge effect on vessel discharge rotations.” Several carriers have announced changes in rotations to calls to New Zealand and Australia, but congestion further back in the voyage can cascade down to these final destinations.

Hapag-Lloyd, for example, had cancelled calls at its southbound service to Australia and New Zealand at Cartagena due to “continuous port congestions that affect the rotation of the service. It is no secret that the global logistics industry is facing an unprecedented strain,” Hapag-Lloyd said. “This situation has led to changes that affect supply chains worldwide. While the industry adapts to the new scenarios, we continue to see unrecoverable vessel delays caused by the current congestion.”

Services from the Pacific northwest to region were also affected, it said. But this has not stopped prices rising for shippers to and from New Zealand. Hapag-Lloyd last week applied a $400 per teu general rates increase on shipments to northern Europe. For importers, the picture is the same. CMA CGM is using a peak season surcharge to increase rates from northern Europe by $1,200 per teu. The actual freight rates being paid are far higher, however. “I’ve just quoted NZ$16,864 ($11,703) for a 40 ft box from China to Wellington,” Mr Holden said.

He pointed out that the cost of new containers out of China was also soaring, with manufacturers quoting $6,800 for 40 ft boxes for those seeking to buy equipment. “Mind you, it pays for itself with first-time usage in the freight rate paid by the clients,” he said. That, however, has not stopped some container lines introducing surcharges for the cost of equipment. Maersk announced a $200 premium quality container surcharge on all exports from New Zealand using specific quality containers capable of food or dairy shipments.

Meanwhile, despite low infection rates in the county, New Zealand shippers have not been immune to the wider effects of coronavirus on seafarers. Maersk’s 5,560 teu Rio De La Plata (IMO:9357951) earlier this month forced to skip a scheduled call at Napier after 11 of the 21 crew were infected after being tested in Tauranga. Not only did this require the isolation and testing of 94 port workers, but also it meant containers were returned to Malaysia undelivered.