Via American Shipper:

The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, a discussion group of 14 carriers involved in the eastbound transpacific trade, said its members are experiencing “consistently high ship utilization numbers since May and going forward through the summer; higher monthly volume and utilization totals relative to 2006.”
TSA also reported “increased congestion at Asian ports notably Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Colombo — due to booming intra-Asia and Asia-Europe trade growth.”
“While trade growth has moderated in line with expectations, U.S. importers face supply chain congestion challenges that get progressively complex to manage moving into the peak shipping season,” the group said in a statement.

In my company we’ve been hearing the same thing from our carriers for over a month now, but of course this comes with reassurances that our cargo will be taken care of. So far I have to say they have been doing a good job (then again, it helps to be a large customer, especially if you’re NOT an NVOCC/Forwarder). While we’ve had some minor problems here and there, for the most part we’ve been weathering things well.

Shanghai has been a difficult origin for sometime now, but manageable. If you use allocated carriers for Shanghai and are having problems try opening it up to all your carriers. Spreading the volume around to your carrier base will reduces the risk of equipment availability and capacity constraints. While it may increase your overall landed costs from Shanghai, the increases should be negligible and there’s no accounting for peace of mind.

Don’t be afraid to play the “loyalty card” with your long-term incumbents either. Being a long-time customer in good standing should afford preferred service. If push comes to shove, your incumbents should have an appreciation for your business and perform accordingly. Then again, it’s times like that when you really find out how much your business is worth to your service providers.

Share This

Stumble it!