Prime Freight’s summary of a March 2022 report by The Loadstar. Read the original for the full story.
In March 2022 congestion returned to North Europe’s container ports, forcing carriers to rework schedules and restrict operations at some terminals.
Ships were arriving late because of disruption in China, and some still carried sanctioned Russian cargo that could not be discharged. Maersk reported critical yard density at its Bremerhaven NTB terminal and told cargo owners to collect containers within five working days of discharge, regardless of agreed free time, warning that boxes could be moved to inland storage.
Bunched arrivals of very large ships overwhelmed quays, and cargo for omitted ports was landed at Zeebrugge and Wilhelmshaven, which filled quickly. Maersk’s Samba service to Latin America would skip Le Havre for eight more weeks, and carriers stopped taking export boxes at the MTL terminal in Dublin. Terminal operators complained that carriers made last-minute omission decisions and shared little information on arrival times, and Drewry expected future terminal contracts to put more weight on performance terms for both sides.
What it meant for shippers
Congested European hubs can shorten effective free time and send cargo to other ports or inland storage at short notice. Tracking arrival notices and being ready to collect quickly helped importers avoid extra storage and transport costs.