The demand continues to be strong, and the global shipping congestion will continue until the summer

It is reported that the heads of some of the busiest ports in the United States predict that the severe congestion of the world's major shipping channels will continue until next summer or the whole 2022, because manufacturers and retailers still have strong demand in the usual seasonal off-season of the shipping industry in order to replenish exhausted inventory.
In this year's shipping season, the number of containers arriving at the U.S. Coast has reached a record level, while the number of ships waiting for berths in Southern California ports is also increasing, and the congestion has spread to warehouses and distribution networks all over the country.
Mario Cordero, executive director of California's Long Beach port, and other port principals have talked with shipping companies and their freight customers. They said that usually during the Chinese Lunar New Year in February, due to the shutdown of Chinese factories during holidays, the container traffic will slow down. However, this time, the shipping congestion is unlikely to be greatly alleviated.
"I don't see a substantial reduction in the congestion experienced by major container ports. Many people believe that this situation will continue until the summer of 2022," Cordero said
Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia port authority, said: "we think it may be very strong at least in the middle of 2022 or throughout 2022." The port of Savannah under the Georgia port authority is one of the largest maritime portals in the United States.
According to the global port tracking report of the National Retail Federation (NRF), it is expected that the major ports in the United States will handle about 2.37 million import containers in August, the highest monthly record since 2002. NRF predicts that the total inbound container volume this year will reach 25.9 million TEU, which will break the record of 22 million TEU in 2020.
The port has become one of the bottlenecks in the global supply chain. Thousands of containers are trapped on container ships waiting for berths, or stacked at terminals, waiting to be transported to inland terminals, warehouses and distribution centers by truck or railway. But when these overstocked containers are moved, they will be stuffed into crowded freight railway yards and warehouses full of goods.
Bob biesterfield, CEO of C.H. Robinson worldwide Inc., the largest freight brokerage company in North America, said that the shortage of truck drivers and warehouse workers exacerbated freight delays and the demand for replenishment of inventory reached an all-time high. "This is not a problem that can be solved during the Chinese new year four to five months later," he said
Congestion has led to a worldwide shortage of shipping containers and a spiral rise in shipping costs. This impasse prompted the Biden administration to appoint a port envoy last month to solve the problem of how to improve cargo transportation. Earlier, American companies complained about inventory shortages, shipping delays and rising costs.
The adjacent ports of Los Angeles and long beach, which account for more than one third of the total seaborne imports of the United States, are the most congested. According to the data of the marine exchange of Southern California, 40 or more ships have anchored and waited outside the port on any day in recent weeks, setting a record during the epidemic period.
Gene seroka, executive director of Los Angeles port, said that with the continuation of the holiday shipping season, the congestion of the port may further deteriorate. The port has broken the container handling record for 13 consecutive months. Seroka said that compared with the same period last year, the container handling capacity of the terminal is expected to increase by 35% in the week beginning September 5 and 80% in the following week.
This growth was driven by the shift in spending from services such as catering and vacation to home decoration, office equipment and other consumer goods. Port officials said that importers were also hoarding additional inventory because defects in the just in time supply chain had been exposed in the weeks before the outbreak.
Sam Ruda, port director of the port authority of New York and New Jersey, said: "the deadlock can be broken only when the epidemic is over. This is the real reason for the continuation of the situation we see today."
Source: sohang.com