CHINA:

The heatwave in China has forced some manufacturers in 19 cities and jurisdictions in China to shut down production for six days due to government-planned power cuts.
Manufacturing power disruptions are also reported in Shanghai.

The interruption is creating more bumps in the road with the approaching seven-day Golden Week holiday in October as manufacturing is typically cut back and vessel capacity tightened during this period.

Based on the latest issue of Sea-Intelligence’s Blank Sailings Tracker, the number of blanked (canceled) sailings on major U.S. import trades remains constant, and the outlook for the coming 10-12 weeks is very close to being back to ‘normal,’” wrote Niels Madsen, vice president of product and operations at Sea-Intelligence.

“It should, however, be noted that carriers have not yet incorporated (hopefully) planned blanked sailings in connection with upcoming Golden Week ex-China, so it is expected that the number of blanked sailings on trades ex-Asia will increase in weeks 40-42.”

Meanwhile, trucking throughout the country is slower than average according to the CNBC China Supply Chain Heat Map. COVID testing on truck drivers is an ongoing challenge, slowing and prolonging goods movement from “days to weeks”, said one global forwarder

 

EUROPE:

Container congestion is growing at German ports as discussions continue between the union and ports. A global forwarder has warned the backlog of import containers bound for the U.S. will spill into the first quarter of 2023 if no agreement comes to pass by August 22nd

The CNBC Europe Supply Chain Heat Map shows the impact from stalled labor negotiations even as the strike wave expands in Europe.

Around 1,900 dockworkers will begin an eight-day strike on August 21st at the Port of Felixstowe which processes around 40% of all containers for the United Kingdom.

 

The U.S.:


 The CNBC U.S. Supply Chain Heat Map shows a slight easing this week with vessels at anchor.

“We’re seeing an 18.5% drop, from 70 down to 57 vessels waiting for berths at East Coast ports,” said Joshua Brazil, VP of supply chain insights at project44.

“The queue, especially at [the Port of New York and New Jersey has improved from 15 vessels to 9 vessels over the course of the week.
30 vessels are still queued at Savannah and 23 are anchored at Houston. However, it’s too early to tell if this improvement is a long-term trend, especially as we head into peak season.”

The wait time for import containers however at the Port of Oakland is still in the low double digits.

“The Port of Oakland’s marine terminals are still clearing out the backlog as a result of the trucking protests which shut down the port for a week a month ago,” said Bryan Brandes, the port’s maritime director.

“Import dwell still remains a critical issue at the port and we need the imports moved off to allow the lines to restore the services to better service our exporters and importers.”

 

 

Source: American Shipper