Congestion problems continue to increase at the world’s major container hubs. To date, there are 2.4 million TEUs on board ships waiting to be unloaded at destination ports.
60% of these containers are in Asia. In Singapore, for example, waiting times remain high even though they have slightly decreased since last week.
According to Linerlytica, the overall congestion level is at its worst in 18 months and could get further deteriorate over the next few days if the strike called by the German Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (Ver.di) trade union due to the impasse in the negotiations on the renewal of the national dockworkers’ contract is confirmed. Ver.di is basically demanding higher wages.
According to Linerlyitica, the blockade of port operations in the ports of Hamburg, Bremen, Bremerhaven and Emden could involve over 50 boxships with a total capacity of three million TEUs.
Translation by Giles Foster
