Holy smokes, the fact that the sailors can be held liable for abandoning a ship but the bankrupt company that owned it cannot is wild as shit.
Iāve worked in the ocean freight biz for 10 years so this is quite the collision of worlds for me.
Iāve never seen the industry in the state itās currently in right now, not even close. There have been short term and more localized situations caused by longshoreman labor strikes or weather incidents (hurricanes, wildfires, blizzards, etc) but I simply have never seen a widespread crunch with no immediate end in sight quite like this.
Kudos to the Trap Draw boys for bringing attention to something that 100% is impacting everyone without them really knowing it. The amount of product and raw materials coming in and out of the US on a boat is way more than the common person would ever estimate.
Fun fact: There are also occasions where the stacks fail and containers just spill overboard. There have been a couple of rather large incidents already in 2021 to just add to the craziness.
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I had a meeting a few days ago where we were going through late POs from the US to APAC. Thousands of pallets of product 120+ days late. We do a ton of import/export globally for both non-finished and finished goods and given our higher demand during the pandemic we are left with a mess.
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Collision of worlds for me too. I work for a weather firm that does routing/fuel optimization/vessel performance data for maritime shipping. We work with a lot of those major liners mentioned.
It has been a tough year. The weather + vessel schedules + issues loading/securing are coming together and its not great. I can assure you that we are doing everything in our power to keep those containers on the vessels, rolling risk and damage prediction tools.
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Ah, so youāre the one I can blame slow steaming on!
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Risky google search
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if I remember correctly there was an āAirportsā trap draw a few years ago. Would certainly like to see that revisited.
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no, slow-steaming can be blamed on (1) port schedules, and (2) The IMOās goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, with intermediate goals for carbon emissions reduction along the way. You can look up things like the Sea Cargo Charter, IMO2020, IMO2050, for details.
Yes, in general slow speeds result in lower fuel consumption, there is a cubic relationship btwn engine power/RPM and fuel consumption. Speeding up guzzles fuel. But due to fuel prices and charter rates, slow-steaming is not always the most total cost efficient way of doing it. Also, especially in the bulk commodities market, vessels are on contract for certain guaranteed speeds and consumption. Charterers like to use those speeds as it opens the door for a performance claim where they can recoup or withhold some $$ to the vessel owners, helps their profit margin.
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Iāve learned more on the Refuge than in my work laptop today. What a world!
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Sort of Logistics adjacent but just finished a great book about the history of Astoria. Early sections get into Astorās empire of goods movement across the world.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062218301/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_Z4ZKHG82SMDNTTGVH614
Thinking about time logisitics in the scale of years to position goods was mind boggling to me, but maybe not as far away from today as I was thinking at the time. Definitely going to check this one out.
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Iāve been dealing with this all year at work and thatās only the customs step. Takes even more time to get them loaded onto rail (mostly Midwest deliveries for me) or onto a flight to expedite.
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Just putting this in the latest Trap Draw thread which is preferable to making a Grocery Store thread.
Scrolling thru this thread precisely for this recommendation. Thanks!
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LOL just came here to post this link. Trap Draw beat NYT to the story
Thought Iād throw a recent example here. Was just quoted a week ago for a 40HQ container. Price was more than double last July. Then within 5 days the price went up to almost triple last year as we have to book āPremium Serviceā to assure we get on the shipā¦and Iām sure itās going to take longer as wellā¦
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Just finished this read, thanks for the recommendation. I love immersive/embedded storytelling like this.
edit: Happy to send the paperback on to the next interested party if youāll pay shipping from the DC area.
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Todayās Major coastal port update. Things have not improved yet:
Newark (APMT terminal) : Min 24 - 48 hours of waiting time
Berth Congestion: APMTās berth is congested and the delay is higher on the larger vessels (Service: TP17, TA5 and TP12) due to deeper berths and taller cranes
Rail: 1 to 2 day dwell with all import containers
Imports: Number of imports on terminal is increasing
Newark (PNCT terminal) : Min 24 - 48 hours of waiting time.
Berth Congestion: 1 to 2 days delay anticipated on few vessels
Rail: PNCTās rail is fluid, however inland destinations are congested due to lack of chassis and high volume.
Yard: Import volumes high and increasing
Baltimore : Min 12 - 24 hrs waiting time.
Norfolk : Delays at Virginia International Gateway (VIG) due to off proforma ships
Charleston : 0 - 12 hrs of waiting time. Last weekās back-log of congestion by crane delivery cleared. Future bottleneck delays are the result of vessels arriving off p/forma due to previous port delays.
Savannah : Min 84 - 132 hrs of waiting time. On 08th March: There were 17 ships at anchor (3xMSK at anchor or in close vicinity). On-going delays and heavy congestion/vsl bunching expected through late March.
Avg waiting time :-
Wk8: Avg waiting time 123hrs (3.5hrs fog closure)
Wk9: Avg waiting time 113hrs (0 fog closure)
Houston : Min 24 - 48hrs of waiting time. Recovering from fog and berth down time. āModerateā fog potential in the forecast this week.
Long Beach : 9 days of waiting time.
Harbour update :-
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30 vessels at anchorage awaiting for a berth.
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Labor shortage continues to impact all terminals.
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Waiting time for the allocation of resources is averaging 9 days.
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All large vessels are limited to 4 gangs and are experiencing extended port stays of 3-4 days.
Los Angeles : 7-15 days of waiting time.
Harbour update :-
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30 vessels at anchorage awaiting for a berth.
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Labor shortage continues to impact all terminals.
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Waiting time for the allocation of resources is averaging 9 days.
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All large vessels are limited to 4 gangs and are experiencing extended port stays of 3-4 days.
Oakland : 8-10 days of waiting time. Vessels portstay continue to increase in all terminals in the harbor due to the increase in import volumes. Terminals are limited to 2 gangs per vessels on most shifts due to the unavailability on of the needed labor to cover the current demand. The other setback is that shipping are only allowed to work 1 vessel at a time at SSA Terminal. Only 4 of 5 berths available at Oakland International Container Terminal. Berth 58 is closed due to the commissioning of 3 new cranes.
Seattle : 3-4 days of waiting time. Yard is at 100% of capacity. Berths remain congested with average wait time of 48hours (with much of that being vessel Customs clearance delays). Seattle Customs is demanding that an entire vessel be 100% cleared before it is allowed to work.
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I was on a call with a liner operator who have vessels going into Long Beach.
Right now the situation, is first come, first served (edit : āfor mostā there are companies that get priority). So, one shitty side of all of this is liner vessels are gassing it to get in line. Hurry up, wait, type situation. Fuel prices are relatively low so the waste on speed is covered by being able to berth āearlierā. its kinda crazy. hang ups on deliveries for sure, but a lot of fuel being burned for no good reason.
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