Dear Valued Client
SHIPPING CONSTRAINTS FAR EAST TRADE LANE
There are currently severe space constraints from the Far East both on airfreight and sea freight cargo which we bring to your attention:
AIRFREIGHT
The limited number of airline options to South Africa coupled with the usual pressures that Chinese holidays place on airfreight space has meant space availability this week and next are critical. We are seeing severe overbooking being done by all airlines which frustratingly leads to increased number of offloads and departure delays. Our team in China advise that these pressures should ease second week May.
SEAFREIGHT
Several factors have led to very severe space restrictions on most Far East to South African routes. Unfortunately, this in turn is being used by lines to increase freight rates dramatically over the last week. The primary drivers for this are as follows:
- Port congestion issues both at origin and South Africa ports is resulting in schedule pressures and changes as well as increased transit times and vessel turn around.
- Blank Sailings to facilitate schedule corrections places additional pressure on the movement of volume.
- Some lines, notably MSC, have changed vessels on the SA route to smaller capacity vessels, moving larger capacity ships to the European and American trade lanes.
- Increased trade volumes
As a result, we are seeing some lines closing requests for all new bookings until the backlog is cleared and all lines reporting serious backlogs and overbooking.
SCT and our partners are fighting hard for space and lowest possible rates on all routes and assure you of our upmost attention to every single shipment. However, in the current market we are anticipating that delays in securing space will arise more often than usual and would suggest wherever possible that added lead times are given to orders to mitigate this.
PORT CONGESTION SURCHARGE
Unfortunately, port performance at all SA ports is still well below optimal and significant berthing delays still being experienced and as such all lines contacted today have advised that the Port Congestion Surcharges are still being applied and unlikely to be removed in the foreseeable future.
We trust this information clarifies some of the recent conversations and should you need any further information, kindly reach out to us.