Carriers eye major rate hikes for July, even as port congestion strands 3.4m teu
Congestion in European and Asian ports has kept 3.4m teu of box ship capacity queued, ...
Antwerp-Bruges Port Authority said it would take at least “several days” to clear a vessel and cargo backlog after pilots this morning returned to work, with vessel arrivals and departures now being scheduled.
“More than 60 ships are waiting to depart and around 100 are waiting to enter the port,” the authority said in an advisory.
“It is too early to estimate how quickly the situation will improve – clearing the backlog will take several days,” it added.
According to reports, Belgium’s BVL pilots’ union has suspended its action in protest at government pension reforms until 24 October ,and has resumed “normal operations” until then.
“A gradual improvement will therefore become noticeable, although the availability of the different pilot corps will likely not be fully known until late afternoon,” said the port authority.
But it added: “The suspension of actions by other organisations within the pilots’ front is not yet fully clear.”
However, it also advised that construction work on Antwerp city tunnels had been postponed ,which would allow the Kallo Lock to continue operations and the Upper Scheldt to remain open.
According to the eeSea liner database, the percentage of ships waiting to berth is now just under 54%, compared with 50% last week – which was up sharply on the previous week’s 22.5%, before the pilot action got under way.
Today, 28 container vessels are en route to Antwerp, compared with 32 yesterday.
Meanwhile, in Rotterdam, operations are also on a temporary return to normality, after a Dutch court ruled that container lashing operatives, on strike since last Wednesday, had to resume work yesterday morning.
The court ruled the strike to be suspended until at least Friday morning to allow collective bargaining negotiations between lashing firms and unions to continue.
However, local sources told The Loadstar it would take at least until the end of the month for the backlog to be cleared, and should lashers pursue further action on Friday, the backlog would last “well into November”.
According to eeSea, 37% of vessels at Rotterdam are waiting to be berthed, up from 33.5% last week and, as of today, there are 45 box ships steaming toward the Dutch hub, compared with 40 yesterday.
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