As China’s Golden Week and Christmas shipping season approach, freight rates have recently increased on most routes around the world, and shipping demand has increased significantly. However, ports are also facing congestion and delays.
A week ago, Sohang.com reported that ports in Los Angeles in the United States, Tokyo in Japan, Manila in the Philippines, Brisbane in Australia/Sydney/Melbourne and other countries and regions have experienced a certain degree of congestion and delays, and shipping companies have also imposed additional levies. Congestion surcharge.
Shipping companies including MSC, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd have begun to charge a congestion surcharge of AUD 300/TEU on congested terminals in Australia. In addition, other ports have been congested a few days ago. If you want to ship, Be careful!
The UK's largest port is severely congested, with shipping companies refusing to accept empty containers and jumping to the port
According to Sohang.com, Felixstowe, the UK's largest and busiest container port, is in chaos and severe congestion. Freight forwarders and Shippers cannot return empty containers to ports.
Freight forwarders and shippers moving goods through the port of Felixstowe will have until at least September 23 to return empty containers to the port, according to the British International Freight Association (BIFA).
Shipping company Maersk and customers stated that "requirements for the return of empty containers at the port of Felixstowe will be temporarily suspended." But added: "We will allow the return of empty containers inland without penalty."
In addition, France's CMA CGM also banned the shipment of empty containers to Felixstowe and asked that they be temporarily returned to the Port of London .
Some ships scheduled to call at the port have begun to shift to other UK ports, with the 18,000 teu Eleonora Maersk deployed on 2M's Asia-North Europe AE7/Condor route jumping to the Port of London instead.
Although neither shipping line has confirmed when it will resume accepting empty containers at Felixstowe again, the British International Freight Association (BIFA) said it will not be before next Wednesday (23 September).
Carriers and forwarders have attributed Felixstowe's problems to a variety of reasons, including port staffing shortages, a shortage of freight drivers, a surge in imports during the holidays ahead of Golden Week, and delays in berthing due to weather and typhoons in Asia. . All of this, combined with other factors, caused the port’s Vehicle Booking System (VBS) to become inoperable. Robert Keen, director general of
BIFA, said: “Operational performance at Felixstowe has been very challenging for some time, but over the past 24 hours the issues have escalated to potentially catastrophic impacts for shippers, while they have been hit by The latest port 'initiative', hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, appears to be an attempt to overcome the huge congestion that has emerged, causing serious shipping problems for shippers as many containers cannot be recovered or returned. Containers will have to be returned to inland yards, which will lead to higher transportation costs for shippers using merchant ships; as well as issues with terminal rentals and demurrage, freight forwarders will not be able to pass the costs on to customers. "
" At least, ports. The authorities should extend the period for which terminal rent and demurrage are free," complained Robert Keen.
A BIFA member commented: “The issues with Felixstowe have affected us greatly, especially with 3-5 containers being moved per day, we are experiencing delivery failures, with shipments being canceled by the freight company on the same day, Since the customer's warehouse has been booked, the goods cannot be picked up at the scheduled time, which has resulted in a waste of freight and storage fees."
He went on to say that due to traffic congestion, Maersk, MSC, Evergreen and COSCO banned empty boxes. back to Felixstowe so we were forced to pay a diversion fee to return the empty container! "
The shipping company levied a port congestion fee of US$400 on an African port.
According to a notice issued by the shipping company MSC, starting from September 28, 2020, goods exported from Hong Kong, Taiwan and South China to Banjul, Africa A port congestion fee of US$400 is levied.
RE：Congestion Surcharge (CGS) for Shipment to Banjul wef 28th of September 2020
Dear valued Customers ,
Dear customers:
Please be informed the Congestion Surcharge (CGS) will be applied with effective date 28th of September 2020 for all shipment ex SPRC ,HK Taiwan to Banjul with details as below:
We would like to inform you that starting from September 28, 2020, our company will levy port congestion fees on goods exported to Banjul from Hong Kong, Taiwan and South China. The details are as follows:
Quantum / Specific Fees Rate
USD 400 /CONTAINER (Dry and Reefer cargo)
Effective date /Effective date
28th September 2020 (Against Feeder-actual Sailing Date/Mother Vessel-Proforma Sailing Date)
September 28, 2020 (based on the actual sailing date of the barge/mother ship standard Departure date shall prevail)
Payment payment method
CGS should be following ocean freight
payment method is consistent with ocean freight
Using this opportunity, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for your kind attention and cooperation .Please do not hesitate to contact us if we could be of any assistance
We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your continued kindness and cooperation. If you have any questions, please feel free to consult our relevant personnel
Yours sincerely .
MSC (HK)Ltd
As Agent for Mediterranean Shipping Co.S.A.
17-September-2020
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