Maersk Announces Major Shipping Delays Due to Port Congestion

Shipping giant Maersk announced on Monday significant delays in vessel schedules due to severe terminal congestion in Mediterranean and Asian ports. The traffic has resulted in extended waiting times at various ports, impacting Maersk’s ability to maintain regular schedules.

As a result, Maersk will introduce several blank voyages in the coming weeks, starting on July 1 and July 2. A 'blank voyage' is when a scheduled sailing is canceled, often due to low demand or operational issues.

“We understand that this situation may cause inconvenience and disruption to your supply chain plans, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused,” Maersk said.

The congestion-related changes come at a time when container spot rates continue to rise, with both Drewry’s World Container Index and the Shanghai Container Freight Index (SCFI) reporting solid increases last week, sustaining their upward trend in the post-Chinese New Year period.

Industry experts have been forecasting the ripple effects of reroutings around the Cape of Good Hope for months. These include bottlenecks, vessel bunching (where multiple ships arrive at the port simultaneously), and shortages of equipment and capacity.

The notice from Maersk comes as global supply chains are suffering cascading delays and higher costs due to Yemen's Houthi militant attacks on commercial vessels near the Suez Canal. Major ocean container carriers like Maersk, MSC, and Hapag-Lloyd have rerouted ships to the longer route around Africa for safety.

As we reported last month, Maersk still feels optimistic about its 2024 financial outlook despite the ongoing disruptions.

Singapore, home to the world's second-largest container seaport, is the latest to be hit by congestion, according to Linerlytica. Data from the firm also showed congestion at ports in China, Dubai, Spain, and the United States.

Ports in China have been hit by high winds and other weather conditions that have affected cargo flows. The worsening congestion in Singapore and Dubai's Jebel Ali ports is driven by the sudden surge in cargo demand as well as continued disruptions caused by the diversion of ships from the Red Sea.

Ultra-large ships from the Far East are offloading containers at western Mediterranean ports such as Barcelona and then reloading on smaller ships headed for final destinations at central and eastern Mediterranean ports, straining operations at affected ports, according to pricing platform Xeneta. Backups are also growing at two U.S. East Coast ports, Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, due to infrastructure projects and software malfunctions, respectively.