The container ship MOL Maneuver enters port under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the lower bay of New York Harbor on March 25, 2021 in New York City.
Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | beautiful pictures
The historic import and export container handling process in August pushed the Port of New York and New Jersey to No. 1, surpassing both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
This comes as trade flows continue to move away from the West Coast with logistics managers worried about a labor strike or shutdown. The Port of Los Angeles ranked third nationally in August, transporting a total of 805,314 containers. That number is 37,877 less than the Port of New York and New Jersey, which moved 843,191. Long Beach Port ranked second, transporting 806,940 import and export containers.
Kevin O’Toole, Chairman of the Port Authority said: “We are exceeding the pre-Covid numbers. It’s amazing, and it’s a recognition for the men and women who are transporting goods with so effective”. “Our plan with rail to supplement the actual infrastructure and dredging is allowing for this extra capacity increase that wouldn’t have happened four or five years ago.”
This August was the busiest August in the history of the Port of New York and New Jersey and the 4th busiest month ever. The port’s five busiest months all take place in 2022.
More East Coast Trade, and More Port Congestion
CNBC’s supply chain heat map for the United States shows how the continued increase in trade shows that East Coast and Gulf ports are the winners in transporting this cargo. Logistics companies and warehouses serving these ports are also benefiting from the addition of containers. CSX and Norfolk Southern rails move import and export containers on the East Coast. BNSF, owned by Berkshire Hathaway and Union Pacific moving containers in and out of the Port of Houston.
Increased container processing is adding to waiting in East Coast and Gulf ports. Congestion adds to delays in arrival times for manufacturers who need components to complete their products or to place finished products on store shelves for sale.
During the week of September 19, MarineTraffic monitored 28 container ships waiting in the Port of Savannah with an average wait time of 9.9 days. For the Port of New York and New Jersey, an average of 12 container ships had to wait 9 days. The Port of Houston has 25 container ships moored, waiting an average of eight days.
Josh Brazil, Project44’s Vice President of Supply Chain, said: “While volumes increase, congestion at East Coast ports could come to an inflection point after months of record imports.” .
Project44 data shows that the number of ships lined up at the Port of Savannah has dropped from more than 30 last month to just 16 today. Congestion in New York also eased slightly. However, Houston is still backed up with 20 ships, roughly the same number as last month.
“In Q4, backlogs at ports are likely to continue to decline as vessel volumes decline due to slowing consumer demand,” Brazil said.
Shipping prices fall
The flow of trade away from the West Coast has reduced the need for vessel space, resulting in lower prices for freight from the Far East to the West Coast.
Peter Sand, head of shipping analytics at Xeneta, said: “When excluding inflation in retail sales, US retail sales were flat from the previous month so demand did not drop sharply. “Shippers are still shipping a lot of containers, on the East Coast and West Coast and Gulf Coast.”
Xeneta tracked the new record difference between spot rates from the Far East to the coasts.
“It’s a sign of all-unless congestion on the West Coast, with the incoming cargo volume manageable for ports and terminals,” said Sand. That has caused freight rates on the transpacific route to fall faster than for cargo traveling from the East Coast.
Logistics prices are one of the main drivers of inflation that the Federal Reserve has no control over.
“Congestion on the US East Coast is driving rates up, combined with increased disruption to that coast coming from troubles in Northern Europe,” he added. port workers’ labor strikes in England put a strain on Europe’s port network.
Shippers remain hesitant to return goods rerouted to the US West Coast, Sand said.
Supply Chain CNBC Heat USAonep-data provider is the artificial intelligence and predictive analytics company Everstream Analytics; global freight booking platform Freightos, creator of the Baltic Freightos Dry Index; US OL logistics provider; FreightWaves supply chain intelligence platform; supply chain platform Blume Global; third-party logistics supplier Oriental Star Corporation; marine analysis company MarineTraffic; marine vision data company Project44; maritime transport data company MDS Transmodal UK; Air and ocean freight benchmarking and market analysis platform Xeneta; leading provider of Sea-Intelligence ApS research and analysis; Crane Worldwide Logistics; and by air, DHL Global Forwarding; transport logistics service provider Seko Logistics; and Planet, global, everyday provider of geospatial and satellite imagery solutions.
