February 2021

Global container vessel reliability fell to 34.9 percent in January, the lowest ever recorded, as ports around the world continued to struggle with near-record volumes for the sixth consecutive month. “Global schedule reliability was down 33.5 percentage points compared to January 2020, and is now the lowest figure ever recorded by Sea-Intelligence [Maritime Analysis],” the maritime consulting firm said Thursday

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The trans-Pacific container shipping system is sagging under a seemingly unending deluge of imports from Asia into North America. The winter storms have only stressed some port gateway further and slowed cargo through rail hubs including Chicago. Importers are often shelling out more than double the posted rates to secure ship and container equipment capacity and watching demurrage fees stack

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US imports from Asia in January increased 14 percent from January 2020, extending the peak shipping season that began last July for an unprecedented seven consecutive months. If import volumes remain near January’s level of 1.59 million TEU through the spring — as retailers, terminal operators and freight forwarders said is possible given the importance of e-commerce merchandise to the US trade

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