Normal container movements will not resume until after the Chinese New Year in 2022, according to CMA CGM chief executive Rodolphe Saade.

The head of the French liner company made the comments as congestion in southern China started to impact on shipments into the European ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg.

Speaking at the virtual meeting of the IAPH World Ports Conference, Saade said the situation affecting container shipping would not be normalised before the next Lunar New Year, which falls on 1 February 2022.

“We still have nine months to go, this is what’s going to be a big challenge for all of us,” he said.

Strong demand helped by government programmes and successful vaccinations would extend the traditional peak season that normally runs from July to September, he added.

“We are used to peak seasons, but this time the peak season is lasting for more than just three months,” he said.

The view was echoed by Robin Silvester, president and CEO of Vancouver Port Authority, where demand for the port was double what may be normally expected.

“We really need to get through the Christmas peak into the Chinese New Year period, then we could expect to see normality return from that point,” Silvester said.

Congestion, a lack of container equipment and difficulties in finding vessels made it difficult for shipping lines to provide good quality services, Saade said.

Congestion spreads to Europe

In recent weeks, the worst affected ports have been in southern China, where a Covid-19 outbreak shut the port of Yantian for six days.

Productivity in Yantian is gradually increasing as more workers return and more berths reopen, AP Moller-Maersk said.

Some 90 vessels have omitted the ports of Yantian and Shekou in order to protect schedule reliability.

“We welcome the diminishing queue, but schedule reliability remains compromised,” the liner company said.

Productivity is picking up at Yantian International Container Terminals. Photo: YICT

In the meantime, liner companies are continuing to divert ships to the neighbouring ports of Nansha, Shekou and Hong Kong.

Average waiting times at those ports is two to four days, although that is expected to grow as more carriers omit Yantian, Maersk said.

While ports in southern China are starting to clear the backlog, there is growing congestion at the major ports of Hamburg and Rotterdam.

Late and unpredictable arrival times have caused scheduling problems. That has led liner companies to temporarily adjust the European rotations on their Asia-Europe services, according to Alphaliner.

THE Alliance partners Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express, Yang Ming Marine Transport and HMM will drop the eastbound calls at Rotterdam for one service due to ongoing congestion at the ECT Delta Terminal.

Similarly, the 2M partners Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co will divert ships away from the congested Eurogate terminal in Hamburg to North Sea Terminal Bremerhaven.

Rates remain sky high

The delays at ports in Asia, the US and Europe, and shortages of container capacity continue to put further upward pressure on stretched container markets.

Freight rates on Asia-North Europe are hovering close to their all-time high of $10,972 per 40-foot equivalent unit (feu).

Those from Asia to the Mediterranean remain over $11,090 per feu, according to the Freightos Baltic Index.