Shipping Alerts for August 18, 2021
US Port, Intermodal, Drayage and Trucking Outlook
Port congestion remains high on the US West Coast and Vancouver as well as hot spots in Norfolk and Savannah. Chassis shortages are impacting deliveries and rail transfers from all major port terminals. Metering continues throughout the rail network due to volume surges and is pushing trucking demand higher. Jump to the report here.
South America – Cross-Andes Road Closed
Winter weather storms have closed the cross-Andes road used for connecting Mendoza exports to Chilean ports. The road is expected to remain closed to the end of this week. This will affect scheduled sailing cut-offs via Chilean ports. Note that departures from Chilean face delays from intermittent port closures (winds/storm surges) as well as trans-shipment service delays on northbound services to the US/Canada.
China Ports – Ningbo Meishan
Operations were suspended at Ningbo Meishan port terminal on August 11th following a positive COVID case. This terminal handles about one quarter of the port’s container cargo. Ocean carriers are diverting to other terminals; as of yesterday there were 41 containerships waiting to berth at Ningbo-Zhoushan. This is the second shut-down of a major Chinese port (following Yantain closure for over a month in May). A phased re-opening of the port could start this week if there are no new cases after the latest round of testing.
Oceania / New Zealand
Ocean carriers servicing Oceania to US West Coast ports have announced a temporary service change in light of the severe schedule disruption and vessel berthing delays at all ports on this route. There will be two separately fortnightly service strings: PSW will call Melbourne, Adelaide, Tauranga, Papeete, Oakland and Long Beach and the PNW will call Melbourne, Sydney, Tauranga, Seattle, Vancouver and Long Beach. While the PSW string will call Oakland every two weeks, there are vessel draft restrictions in Papeete (French Polynesia) which will limit vessels to 75% capacity. These services are expected to be in place until mid-November. Plan for longer lead times to secure booking space until port congestion can improve and weekly Oakland service can resume again. Note as well there are new health orders and restrictions in place throughout the area. Hillebrand staff in Australia and New Zealand have remote working contingency plans in place.
For more information on pending or planned shipments, please reach out to your Hillebrand representative to discuss the best possible arrangements for transport, warehousing, insurance, and customs compliance needs.