According to The Wall Street Journal, the number of vessels waiting to unload goods at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has fallen to 78. This is the lowest number of ships waiting since November, although it continues to be much higher than pre-pandemic. According to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director, Gene Seroka, US retailers are aiming to replenish inventory during the second quarter of the year, and this could mean that once their inventories are full, US supply chains would have the chance to normalize just before summer. Moreover, in a Bloomberg TV interview, the CEO of A.P. Moller-Maersk, Soren Skou revealed that he believes that ocean shipping should begin to return to normal in the second half of the year.
On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Chinese ports are beginning to operate as normal following the Chinese New Year holiday. In an article from The Load Star, southern Chinese ports at Yantian, Shekou and Guangzhou are back to normal operations and in north China, Qingdao and Tiajin have also returned to normal operations. The traditional post-new year slowdown has helped Chinese ports with congestion, however there are still large backlogs of ships waiting to enter ports and container shortages. For example, the port of Shanghai is still suffering from heavy congestion with a one-week delay for most ships.
The latest assessment of spot freight rates from Drewry’s World Container Index shows that the composite index slightly decreased 0.2% compared to last week, although it remains 80% higher than one year ago. Rotterdam to Shanghai and New York to Rotterdam decreased the most at 3% each, while Los Angeles to Shanghai and Shanghai to Los Angeles saw small decreases of 1%. The only route to have the spot rate increase is Shanghai to New York, which rose 2%. The other routes all remained constant compared to the previous week.
On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Chinese ports are beginning to operate as normal following the Chinese New Year holiday. In an article from The Load Star, southern Chinese ports at Yantian, Shekou and Guangzhou are back to normal operations and in north China, Qingdao and Tiajin have also returned to normal operations. The traditional post-new year slowdown has helped Chinese ports with congestion, however there are still large backlogs of ships waiting to enter ports and container shortages. For example, the port of Shanghai is still suffering from heavy congestion with a one-week delay for most ships.
The latest assessment of spot freight rates from Drewry’s World Container Index shows that the composite index slightly decreased 0.2% compared to last week, although it remains 80% higher than one year ago. Rotterdam to Shanghai and New York to Rotterdam decreased the most at 3% each, while Los Angeles to Shanghai and Shanghai to Los Angeles saw small decreases of 1%. The only route to have the spot rate increase is Shanghai to New York, which rose 2%. The other routes all remained constant compared to the previous week.