European ports have been hit and in turmoil this year due to the strikes at Liverpool, Felix Stowe and other ports in Britain in recent months, as well as the strikes at major German ports throughout the summer.
Antwerp Port Strikes, Shipping Company Releases Early Warning
It is understood that the port workers at Antwerp Port will start their strike on November 9, starting at 6:00 a.m. (local time) and ending at 6:00 a.m. the next day.
According to Inchcape Shipping Services, the Belgian trade unions are currently on strike. The Socialist trade unions have called for a general strike, while Christian and liberal trade unions will organize protests including strikes, staff meetings and demonstrations.
As a result, most public life in Belgium will be shut down and restricted. According to local media reports, the reason why the trade union called for strike was the rise in energy prices.
The Danish shipping company Maersk said in a recent customer consultation that during the announced one-day strike, the terminal will be closed for operation, and inland delivery or picking up will not be possible until the end of the strike.
As pilots, tugboats and other port personnel will participate in the strike action, Antwerp Port is expected to encounter delays and operational difficulties.
Maersk said that it is paying close attention to the development of the situation. Although the strike action is expected to bring challenges to the operation, Maersk is also actively developing contingency plans to minimize the delay of the supply chain.
During this period, Maersk will continue to focus on maintaining the circulation of import and export goods and minimizing the impact on customers. To reduce the delay, Maersk reminded customers to pick up the imported goods as soon as possible.
In addition, the train traffic may be interrupted, and the airport will also be restricted, especially Zafintmu Airport and Brussels Shallowa Airport.
Backlog for 3 months, German ports are heavily congested
In addition, the congestion of German ports in central Europe is still not optimistic.
Due to the lack of drivers to transport containers and cars out of the port and a large amount of conventional trade, the sea and land transport vehicles of automobile manufacturers such as Tesla (TSLA. US), Chrysler and Jeep owner Stellantis (STLA. US), BMW, Renault and Volvo are piling up at The Port of Bremerhaven in Germany. The delay of auto export business of auto enterprises is very serious.
It is understood that Bremen Port is one of the largest automobile transport hubs in the world, and its normal operation is at a deadlock.
According to foreign media, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a famous Norwegian ship owner (the market leader in ro ro transport and vehicle logistics), has refused the orders for goods export in October and November, and even started to reject the orders for December.
In addition, Andreas Braun, manager of marine products in Europe, Africa and the Middle East of Crane Worldwide Logistics, said that the delay was very serious. The time of importing cars from the United States and Mexico must be calculated in months. Even cars like BMW were delayed for three months. It was difficult to install additional devices such as the iDrive touch panel.
The shipping big data and trade consulting company VesselsValue pointed out that Bremen Port has informed the industry that due to the serious shortage of drivers for unloading heavy goods, it is unable to transfer imported vehicles; In addition, military exercises took up a considerable amount of terminal space normally reserved for operators.
It is reported that Bremen Port is the fourth largest container port in Europe, with an annual throughput of more than 5 million TEUs. It transports more than 1.7 million vehicles every year. The data shows that the overall transport congestion level (excluding cars) at this stage is currently at a "medium" level.
At present, there are not enough arriving motor cargo carriers in the port, which leads to the increase of export waiting time again.
The data shows that the decrease of automobile export orders helps to speed up the processing time of vehicles piled up at the port in recent months, but the waiting time for automobiles arriving at the port is still on the rise.
In addition, in addition to the lack of main labor force, the shortage of shipping capacity has also aggravated the delay of the port's transportation efficiency.
According to VesselsValue data, compared with December 2019, the global transport fleet is short of about 13 transport ships on average.
The vehicle transport director of VesselsValue said, "It is mainly due to the excessive scrapping of ships in the first year of the outbreak of the epidemic. It is expected that the shortage of transport capacity will continue until 2024 when new ships are delivered."
Although the pressure on the global supply chain has fallen back from the peak during the epidemic, it remains at a high level. Ships are operating at full capacity. The growing demand for electric vehicles will bring greater pressure on the supply chain.
In addition, if the British side fails to reach an agreement with the port management, the employees of Liverpool Port will hold a fourth strike from November 14 to 21.
Finally, I would like to remind you that if there are freight forwarders who ship goods to Europe in the near future, you should reasonably arrange the shipment plan to avoid losses caused by delay.
