Due to continued traffic congestion, the Christmas crisis is imminent

        Global supply chain issues are threatening Christmas shipments to retailers, and we are seeing continued congestion in US ports, as are now parts of the UK. It continues to disrupt shipping and cargo transportation around the world. We have seen that the congestion of China's major container ports such as Ningbo has eased. Since mid-August, the number of waiting ships has been reduced by more than half. However, the congestion of import ports is worrying because the ports have difficulty clearing container throughput.

　　 In the past year, the container ship market has been under tremendous pressure. The pent-up demand due to the new crown pneumonia has pushed up consumer spending. The severe weather in China and the blocked terminals due to the new crown pneumonia have caused high port congestion. Due to insufficient maritime transport capacity, shipping rates continue to tighten, and these disruptions are spreading to the onshore supply chain. The import ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in California are among the most severely affected ports. As Christmas approaches, the severe congestion shows little sign of alleviating, as the number of ships anchored at the ports waiting to be unloaded has reached a record level. Compared with a month ago, the number of waiting ships has increased by about 65.

　　 At present, there are 334 container ships (ULCV-Sub Panamax) waiting outside the port globally, totaling more than 2.2 million TEU.

　　 Felixstowe is one of the main container ports in the UK. Since the beginning of 2021, it has received 927 Post Panamax, 554 Panamax, 532 ULCV and 484 New Panamax container ships. Most of the containers entering the UK are transported from China's export hub for manufactured goods. From toys, fitness equipment, electrical appliances, clothing to frozen food, 40% of the UK's imported containers pass through this port. The Port of Felixstowe is the latest port to report congestion because a severe shortage of truck drivers means that containers are piling up at the port yard. This makes it increasingly difficult to unload and reload empty containers back into Asian ports.

　　 Due to the accumulation of containers in the port, it takes longer than usual for the ship to unload and set off at the port, causing the liner schedule to be interrupted and further reducing the availability of the vessel. Since the beginning of this month, 31 ships have passed through the port of Felixstowe, which is equivalent to the total capacity of 281,408 TEU ships. This is a decrease of 45% over the same period in 2020 and a decrease of 51% over the same period in 2019, indicating that the port has encountered difficulties in turnaround time.

　　 Since this major port does not have a steady flow of containers and there are not enough trucks to redistribute manufactured goods, the supply disruptions seen from this may mean that retailers have a hard time filling their shelves during this Christmas period. Some shipping companies report that they are diverting their ships to other European ports to avoid the bottleneck in Felixstowe and keep the ships unblocked. The 18340teu Marchen Maersk departed from Tanger Med on October 13 and turned from Felixstowe to Wilhelmshaven, Germany, to speed up unloading.

　　The longer it takes, the higher the cost. Therefore, for shipping companies, they are forced to make a decision to change their routes, as well as being blocked in congested ports, which are costly. At this time of the year, retailers also account for the largest percentage of sales, so if retailers struggle to obtain enough inventory and profit margins fall, we may see prices fall back to consumers.

　　 We may also see an increase in the use of alternative transportation methods for purchasing products in stores, such as rail and air freight, although distribution issues also affect most parts of the supply chain.