A month of chaos and disruption could lie ahead for France’s major ports, including box hubs Le Havre and Marseille-Fos.

Labour unions representing dockers and other port workers look set to carry out their threat to stage several one-day strikes, as well as numerous four-hour work stoppages this month, in protest over pension reform that increased the statutory retirement age in France.

The first of the 24-hour strikes took place on Friday, with Le Havre’s ro-ro, bulk and container terminals reportedly blocked by dockers. Four ship calls were cancelled and a further 18 calls delayed.

The same day, an estimated 600 dockers and other port workers blocked the main entry point of trucks at the Fos box terminal.

Among the other French ports hit by the stoppages are Dunkirk, Rouen, Bordeaux and Nantes Saint-Nazaire. At Rouen, three ships and two barges have been delayed.

“The government doubted our ability to mobilise our members. Now they’ll see just how united we are in our demands,” warned Serge Coutouris, deputy general secretary of the Ports and Docks branch of the CGT union.

According to the union, the prevailing sentiment is one of betrayal by French president Emmanuel Macron, who made a promise in his re-election campaign in 2022 that raising the retirement age would not apply to dockworkers and port workers.

The next 24-hour strikes are scheduled for 13, 21 and 25 June, with four-hour walk-outs on three days of each week this month.

Industrial action could be extended into July if the unions do not receive a satisfactory response from the government to their demands.

Trade bodies representing road hauliers and logistics providers said they were suffering considerable disruption to their business, citing delays of up to a week in obtaining bookings at Marseille and Le Havre terminals, for example, while also incurring extra costs due to the immobilisation of goods and the diversion of logistics flows to other European ports.

For the Fédération Nationale des Transports Routiers, Organisation des Transporteurs Routiers Européens and Union des Entreprises de Transport et de Logistique, the port strikes couldn’t have come at a worse time.

A joint statement from the organisations said: “The container transport business has only just begun to pick up after a number of recent crises, jeopardising the survival of many companies,” and called on the government to implement measures to support firms particularly badly hit by the strikes and to lift restrictions for HGV traffic over the coming weekends.

The port authority of Marseille was approached by The Loadstar, but no one was immediately available to comment on the impact of the strikes.

 

News from: https://theloadstar.com/french-ports-could-face-a-month-of-chaos-and-disruption-as-port-workers-strike/

La Cámara Nacional de Industrias reportó una pérdida de 10 millones de dólares por día debido al bloqueo del transporte pesado nacional e internacional que demanda provisión de combustibles y acceso a dólares.

El presidente de la entidad, Pablo Camacho, dijo que la medida de presión no sólo genera pérdidas económicas, sino que también pone en riesgo al menos 600 mil fuentes de empleo en el país y el deterioro de 39 mil industrias.

“Cuando nuestro país necesita trabajar, producir y exportar se ve una afectación al sector industrial, al sector formal, que supera los 10 millones de dólares”, lamentó en un contacto con la red DTV sobre los efectos negativos de la medida de presión de 48 horas que concluye este martes.

El empresario afirmó que la imagen de país se ve deteriorada con el bloqueo de carreteras, “porque lo único que exportamos es conflicto. Todo esto es porque los bolivianos hemos perdido el concepto de diálogo, y hoy todo es bloqueo”.

 

News from:

https://www.lostiempos.com/actualidad/economia/20240604/industriales-reportan-mas-us-10-millones-perdida-cada-dia-bloqueo

Authorities battling congestion in Singapore port have reopened shuttered terminals to alleviate the mounting pressure on the world’s largest transhipment hub.

The Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) yesterday announced that port operator PSA had “reactivated older berths and yards that have previously been decanted at Keppel Terminal”, which has upped the port’s weekly handling capacity from 770,000 teu to 820,000.

It said although box volumes in the port over the first four months of 2024 had grown 8.8% year on year, to 13.36m teu, the problems had largely been caused by carriers seeking to play catch-up in their schedules at Singapore.

“We have seen large increases in container volumes and the “bunching” of container vessel arrivals over the previous months, due to supply chain disruptions in upstream locations,” said the MPA.

“The increase in container vessels arriving off-schedule and the increased container volumes handled resulted in longer vessels’ wait time for a container berth.”

It added: “The increased demand on container handling in Singapore is a result of several container lines discharging more containers as they forgo subsequent voyages to catch up on their next schedules. The number of containers handled per vessel has also increased.”

According to the eeSea liner database, there are currently 47 box vessels waiting for a berth at Singapore, and 53 undergoing cargo operations.

Meanwhile, new schedule reliability data released by Sea-Intelligence today says global schedule reliability has fallen to just over 50%, compared with around 65% at this point last year.

The interlocking dynamics of port congestion and deteriorating liner schedules appear to be acting like a fast-spreading infection, with carriers and forwarders trying to recoup the costs of moving containers through busy ports and severely delayed vessels.

The Loadstar receives reports of schedule delays, port omissions and equipment shortages on a daily basis.

Here’s one example from Dubai-headquartered NVOCC CargoGulf of its daily schedule update for just one of the vessels in its AGA service:

“Vessel is undergoing cargo ops at JEA ETD 30 May (port stay of approx 89hrs). Vessel badly delayed due to NGB port closure / SHA/SHK congestion. Simulated 48 hrs berth delay at CMB due to berth congestion (and heavy monsoon winds/rain). SIN e/b will omit due to 5-7 days’ congestion.” 

As a result, CargoGulf commercial manager Hans-Henrik Nielsen told The Loadstar it had been forced to implement a $200 port congestion surcharge on all westbound services from tomorrow (1 June).

“As you can deduce from the above, every port in the pro forma schedule faces significant delays. You can pretty much allow 8-10 days delay in a normal 35-day round-trip.

“It also results in severe “bunching” of vessels. So, instead of a nice weekly frequency, we end up with three vessels in eight days – difficult for both shippers and us,” he explained.

The Q1 Schedule Reliability Scorecard, published by liner database eeSea this week, included an insight into how bunching and delays ripple across a service.

Breaking down the vessel arrivals on THE Alliance’s transpacific TP4 service, it is effectively a postmortem of schedule disruption, demonstrating how delays increase in magnitude over the course of several rotations.

Even after the initial service calls, port congestion in China has meant vessels routinely arriving at the first North American port up to four days late, and often another 20 days late returning to Asia.

“Ports further down the rotation take the brunt of the hit,” noted eeSea. “The window of standard deviation grows progressively wider and increases in minimum delay, as do the frequency of extreme outliers, perfectly illustrating the ‘ripple’ effect of cumulative delay.”

The transpacific and Asia-Middle East may be different trades, but they face identical issues and Mr Nielsen explained how the bunching affected supply chains at an operational level.

“The extra cost is significant, and our equipment management is out the window – it’s impossible to get boxes to the right place at the right time.

“With the omittance of port calls, we also lose revenue. Bottom line – much higher cost and less revenue. Not the best combination for any business…”

And his message to carriers’ customers was to take every ETA with a large grain of salt.

“By now, there should not be a forwarder or importer unaware of this “across the board” situation – do not plan, promise or expect ‘just in time’.

“It’s more likely to snow in Dubai in June!” he said.

 

NEWS FROM: https://theloadstar.com/singapore-reopens-defunct-container-terminals-to-tackle-vessel-bunching/

By Gavin van Marle

The sense of genuine anger amongst North European shippers and freight forwarders was palpable this week as they struggled to digest rapidly escalating spot freight rates.

The ascent steepened over recent weeks, with Drewry’s WCI Shanghai-Rotterdam leg rising 20% week-on-week to finish at $4,999 per 40ft.

However, sources told The Loadstar that slots were being purchased at much higher levels.

“Real terms rates for spot are in the $6,000-$7,500 mark, with carriers saying they will hit $10,000.”

Tight vessel supply is continuing to combine with high demand in trunk trades and has led to a worsening shortage of containers at key export hubs in Asia, as The Loadstar reported earlier this week, and which is now having a significant impact on secondary trades.

But carriers’ preference to carry higher paying spot cargo over contracted volumes is infuriating many customers.

One European import manager suggested the recent hikes would likely force it to suspend shipments once its current bookings are completed.

“The carriers don’t honour anything but their profits – we’re loading/shipping out the stock that’s currently on production lines, then we will cease again, and we’ve already informed our suppliers and partners.

“Personally, I believe it needs manufacturers to lobby their officials and shippers to cancel orders. All professional shippers understand and totally accept the lines need an operating profit.

“But this flippant nonsense is no good for any party, including the lines themselves in the long run – so many shippers have mitigated their production now due to the last hikes during Covid,” he said.

“It’s an excuse, like Covid was,” one forwarder told The Loadstar.

“Is it any more expensive to move a container now than it is any other time? Or is it shipping lines taking advantage of a situation?

“It’s tulip mania. The bubble will burst and then the usual cyclical rate reverberation of collapse and recovery,” he added.

Meanwhile, on the WCI’s Shanghai-Genoa leg, spot rates rose 15% to $5,494 per 40ft.

Similar trends were seen across the market – transpacific rates on Drewry’s WCI were up 18% to $5,277 per 40ft, and up 16.5% on Xeneta’s XSI to $4,689, while Freightos’ FBX Asia-US west coast had prices lower at $4,333 per 40ft, a week-on-week increase of 12%.

Meanwhile, the WCI’s Shanghai-New York leg saw a 13% week-on-week increase to $6,463 per 40ft, while the FBX Asia-US east coast prices climbed 5% to $5,359 per 40ft.

And forwarders on the US trades reported similar problems in Asia – Falcone yesterday warned of a “severe shortage of 20ft, 40ft, and 40ft HQ containers available to be used for export shipments, especially at the ports of Shanghai, Ningbo and Xiamen”.

Port congestion in Asia also appears to be getting worse – an operational update from Hapag-Lloyd said vessels were waiting three-to-four days at both Shanghai and Singapore to be berthed, and between one and two days at Qingdao and Ningbo.

The eeSea liner database currently shows 20 ships at berth in Qingdao and 53 waiting, while Singapore has 51 at berth and 69 vessels at anchor awaiting a berth.

Meanwhile, some secondary trades are now being described as ticking time bombs with the same factors further propelling rates increases.

“There is a ticking time bomb about to go off on Asia-Middle East,” Hans-Henrik Nielsen, global development director at CargoGulf, told The Loadstar.

“The freight rates are going through the roof – we are hiking FCL rates each week. Right now, we are just shy of $4000 per 40ft on China-Jebel Ali, and I have a feeling we could see another 50 % increase by mid-July, if not earlier.

“All sorts of surcharges will start to creep in – peak season and congestion surcharges…we already have the congestion surcharges for cargoes ex-China, south-east Asia and Sri Lanka,” he added.

On the Asia-east coast South America trade, short-term rates recorded by Xeneta have returned to levels last seen in the fourth quarter of 2022, with a current average spot rate of $6,468 per 40ft., although some Brazilian importers are reported to have paid up to $8,231.

 

The news from: theloadstar.com