Asia Congestion Puts Pressure on Global Container Capacity

There doesn’t seem to be much breathing room for the container shipping network at the moment.

Port congestion across Asia has now reached around 4.3 million TEU, according to Linerlytica. That’s higher than the estimated 4.0 million TEU that was stranded at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And after three typhoons in a row disrupted parts of the region, terminals are struggling to work through the backlog.

Shanghai and Ningbo are seeing vessels waiting 7–10 days or more to berth, with some delays at Ningbo exceeding 10 days. More severe weather has also been affecting parts of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and Taiwan.

The problem is the compounding effect.

Each new weather disruption makes it harder for terminals to clear the previous backlog. Vessels miss their berthing windows, schedules start slipping, and those delays then continue to roll through the rest of the vessel rotation.

At the same time, vessels continuing to sail around the Cape of Good Hope are absorbing an estimated 5-7% of global container capacity.

That is putting increasing pressure on shipping lines to find additional capacity, and we’re now seeing more carriers testing the shorter route between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.

CMA CGM has been leading the way, with Maersk, MSC, Wan Hai and COSCO also operating vessels through the Suez route.

For the shipping lines, the attraction is fairly clear. The Suez route is considerably shorter than going around the Cape, allowing vessels to complete their rotations more quickly and potentially putting some additional capacity back into the market.

But there are still operational and security considerations, so carriers are continuing to take a cautious approach rather than making a wholesale return to the route.

And for Australian importers, there’s another part of the congestion story worth keeping in mind.

The delays don’t necessarily end when the vessel leaves China.

We’re also seeing delays with container availability here in Australia, which can add further time before cargo is finally delivered.

So while the return of some services through Suez could eventually help free up capacity, there are still plenty of moving parts across the network.

For now, it’s a case of watching the congestion, the weather, the vessel schedules and the carrier decisions very closely.

The pressure is certainly high. The question is, when will we finally see it start to come back down?