Congestion is worsening the equipment imbalance 16/01/22

Containers are being shipped from China and other Asian hubs (such as Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia) faster than destination ports are able to return them. This is worsening the existing equipment imbalance.

A study released by Container xChange and Fraunhofer CML found that China reduced its average container dwell time to five days last year – down from 16 in 2020. Meanwhile, the countries with the poorest port performances were the UK (51 days) and the US (50 days).

“Port congestion is a major factor,” says Johannes Schlingmeier, co-founder and CEO of Container xChange. “Until that congestion is cleared, we’ll continue to have major imbalances in the supply and demand of both vessel capacity and containers.”

Additionally, following China’s recent partial lockdowns, omicron bringing more disruption and with Chinese New Year on its way, Schlingmeier is expecting “a volatile start to the year for ocean freight logistics”.

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