70-hour ship arrival delays in northern Europe

Corianne Egan, Associate Editor | Aug 18, 2014 3:26PM EDT

Cargo is surging at northern European ports, but it’s not without consequences.

Delays topping 70 hours on arrival at major European ports are being reported amid congestion at Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Antwerp, Belgium; and Hamburg, Germany. From April through May, a report from the logistics technology firm CargoSmart reported the delays at 24 hours or more for mega-ships at northern European ports, but a recent first-half report from the port of Hamburg is suggesting those delays are skyrocketing.

In the report, Hamburg cited the figure of 70 hours or more as being typical for container ship arrival delays at northern European ports, especially with larger container ships carrying between 6,000 and 7,000 TEUs.

“You can imagine that, for example, export containers booked on a container vessel arrive in time in the port and then they are parked on a container terminal waiting for the delayed vessel some days,” a Hamburg port spokesperson told JOC.com. “This brings stowage problems to container terminals. These terminals are specialized in just receiving boxes and loading them onto ships or ― in case of import boxes ― on rail or truck and barges for transport. Container terminals are not designed as big parking places for boxes.”

The first-half report from Hamburg showed Europe’s second-largest container port continued to load and unload record volumes despite delays that averaged just short of three days on larger container ships. The port of Hamburg reported handling 4.8 million TEUs in the first six months of 2014, a record first-half total for the port and nearly 7 percent higher than the first half of 2013.

Nearly all northern European ports have reported delays. Total Asia to North Europe volumes are up 8 percent in the first half of 2014 versus the first half of 2013, according to Container Trades Statistics.

Hamburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp in particular are having issues with delays in the handling of large ships. Some carriers, including Hapag-Lloyd, have recently shifted port calls from Rotterdam to Antwerp to avoid delays.

In addition to the difficulties handling mega-ships at the Hamburg, construction projects have delayed traffic in and out of the port. To address growing inland congestion issues tied to the port, Hamburg recently unveiled a high-tech system to address traffic congestion for trucks moving in and out of the port areas.

“It is our joint task to bring the transport chain in and through the port of Hamburg back to the high level of reliability that made the port a preferred logistics service provider," said Frank Horch, Hamburg's senator for economics, transport and innovation. "Our investments in infrastructure are an absolute must. Today, those who make a case for less building are putting the future of our location at risk."

In the first six months of 2014, Hamburg reported 244 container ships with capacities of 10,000 TEUs or more called at the port, a 27.1 jump year-over-year.