Port congestion hits carriers’ schedules

Alliance networks operating between Asia and North Europe are experiencing delays of up to a month due to worsening port congestion at both ends of the tradelane.
Asia-North Europe loops with a pro-forma round-trip transit time of around 75 days are now taking 100 or more, with carriers obliged to juggle schedules at the last minute.
According to a Maersk advisory, vessel wait times at Antwerp are already up to 10 days, with lesser – albeit significant – delays impacting all North European hub ports.
The consultant said the ULCV’s revised European rotation of Rotterdam, Zeebrugge and Felixstowe would now take 18 days, due to waiting times in both Rotterdam and Felixstowe, compared with its schedule of around six days.
According to eeSea data, the AE55/Griffin loop has a pro-forma round-trip voyage time of 76 days, of which 62, or 81%, are spent at sea, with 14 days allocated to time at port.