SEVERE SPACE REDUCTIONS FROM ASIA TO THE U.S. IN MAY AND JUNE

There will be a substantial shortage of capacity from Asia to the U.S. in the months of May and June, which will further impact the already very difficult market. Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) intends to withdraw several voyages covering all their Asia to U.S. services, in an attempt to regain schedule integrity and to alleviate some of the ongoing congestion at ports and intermodal ramps in the USA.

MSC will omit a total of 29 separate voyages, resulting in a total capacity loss equating to 132,000 40-foot containers, or more than a quarter million TEUs. This is in addition to the blank sailings already announced as a result of the recent Suez Canal incident. The impact this will have on the market will be severe. Available space to the USEC will be reduced by 112,600 TEUs while space to the USWC will be reduced by 151,300 TEUs. The specific breakdown for the reductions in capacity for each area is shown below:

In addition to the above, many carriers are also restricting bookings to port location only and not allowing IPI moves to inland locations. This is in an effort to alleviate the unprecedented congestion along with equipment and trucker shortages in these locations.

If you have any questions, please contact your Noatum Logistics representative.