Shipping Container Backlog Persists
Shipping Container Backlogs: Thanks to two extremely complicated years in global shipping in 2020 and 2021, the delays in 2022 have become more background noise than breaking news. However, they are far from gone. As we still feel the effects of COVID backlogs, the Ukraine war continues to take its toll, and we head into a wave of global inflation and market contraction, we may be looking at more, not fewer delays and disruptions in the global logistics space.
Today we wanted to check in on some of the major delays that are currently going on around the world and look at what impacts may be coming in the next few weeks and months as we head into a very strange busy season.
Europe
The two countries making major shipping news in Europe at the moment are Germany and The Netherlands. In Germany, ports across the country were still in the midst of recovering from strikes that took place early in June when, late last month, a massive storm hit affecting many North German ports. On top of this scheduled maintenance, public holidays and other factors have led to widespread shortages and delays that have locked up a fair share of the rail capacity in the country.
Just west of the issues in Germany, the Netherlands is facing its own suite of issues. Due to the lockdowns in China, earlier this year causing many carriers to blank sailings from Europe to affected Chinese ports, Europe’s main export hub of Rotterdam is still working through the back long of cargo heading to Asia. This backlog has forced carriers to prioritize filled containers over empties, meaning that China and other Asian countries may be facing a box shortage later this year during a crucial export season.