GLOBAL TRADE MARKET UPDATE.

On June 14,2022 the PMA( Pacific Maritime Association) and ILWU ( International Longshore and Warehouse Union) have issued a joint statement assuring an interruption free pathway, even in the case of negotiations extending beyond July 1, 2022. Nonetheless, the present activity suggests to the contrary. 

The week of June 12, Los Angeles and Long Beach ports demonstrated a delayed pace of unloading to container release with wait times over 12 hours which has a relentless impact on drayage companies. This results in additional charges applied for longer wait times along with disruption of drivers availability. Due to this scenario, empty return yard storage per diem would be unavoidable.

Vessel wait time on the West Coast: 

Los Angeles – up to 15 days. 

Long Beach – up to 18 days. 

In light of immense import volume, port labor shortages along with dwell times, allotted appointment times to redeem containers are heavily influenced by trucking lines and overall terminal congestion which leads to appointment window expiration and the need for rescheduling the container retrieval. Reserving an appointment to return empties is still a challenge due to shortage of chassis. 

Vessel wait time on the East Coast: 

New Jersey ( APM terminal) – up to 3 days.

New Jersey ( PNCT terminal) – 1 to 3 weeks.

The delays are caused by stringent berth congestions, chassis shortages which can’t be reused for new container collection as empty container receiving is not accessible. Conclusively, line hall operations, drayage and cross-dock are being influenced by restraining the capability of picks up before the last free day adding extra charges. 

The current ocean freight global state of affairs may continue for months to come which made vigilant shippers re-route cargo to USEC. 

As for air-freight, the market interest to the European Union and United States from Central China is strong in Q2 with increased volume of electronic products. The market available volume has booked up expeditiously. The cross border services between Hong Kong and South China are almost at normal pace (1 to 2 days).