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OceanWaves: How to navigate the port congestion minefield

Strategies for curbing transport delays and views on how long peak conditions could last

FreightWaves' Greg Miller (left); Flexport's Nerijus Poskus (right)

This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ OceanWaves Summit.

TOPIC: Shipper strategies to counter congestion

DETAILS: A look at how importers can minimize import shipment delays and what the prospects are for future ocean freight pricing, given all-time-high anchorage levels. Also, how long could current peak conditions actually last?

SPEAKERS: Nerijus Poskus, vice president of global ocean, Flexport, and Greg Miller, senior editor, American Shipper and FreightWaves

BIO: Poskus leads long-term ocean strategy, working with clients and carriers to innovate ocean services. Since joining in 2015, Poskus has scaled Flexport’s global ocean carrier partnerships, trade lane coverage and internal freight operations. Prior to Flexport, Poskus worked on the trans-Pacific trade lane management team at Kuehne + Nagel.


KEY QUOTES FROM POSKUS:

On how shippers can avoid port congestion: “The opportunities are still out there, but they’re getting harder and harder to find. There were four or five extra loaders this month [September] to Seattle — and some of the terminals in Seattle are congested but actually some are not. Some extra loaders were also sent to Oakland. While Oakland was very congested two months ago, last week there were nearly zero [vessels at anchor]. Another option is to ship LCL [less-than-container-load] using premium ocean services — for example, those by Matson, which are going around most of the congestion because it owns its terminal in Los Angeles. Also, one thing Flexport has done, and it’s not just Flexport, is we have a setup with Valor Victoria rail line, which has trains running on UP tracks but they have their own trains and they are able to load much faster because they are actually doing it from a different location.”

On how long it now takes to get cargo from China to the U.S.: “It depends. If you are using rail in the U.S. it will take significantly longer. If you’re importing from anywhere in China or Southeast Asia and you’re shipping to the middle of the country using regular ocean services and regular rail, I would bet your goods will not arrive in time for Christmas. They’ll probably only be available next year, with all the congestion. The lead time can be anywhere from 30 days using premium ocean services for local moves to California, to over 100 days [using regular services and rail] for IPI [inland point intermodal] moves.”

On whether congestion will spur widespread sailing cancellations in Q4: “With up to 70 ships at anchor off Los Angeles/Long Beach, that will probably result in a similar amount of blank [canceled] sailings in the fourth quarter. With ships at anchorages at an all-time high, I expect more blank sailings on regular services in Q4 than Q3. What is helping a little bit is that there are already a lot of new services, and there are other new services that are scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter. So, blank sailings will go up but new services will also go up, which should alleviate some of the pain points. It doesn’t solve anything in terms of congestion in the U.S., but it should help shippers to leave China — not on time but at least within a reasonable amount of time.”

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Greg Miller

Greg Miller covers maritime for FreightWaves and American Shipper. After graduating Cornell University, he fled upstate New York's harsh winters for the island of St. Thomas, where he rose to editor-in-chief of the Virgin Islands Business Journal. In the aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn, he moved to New York City, where he served as senior editor of Cruise Industry News. He then spent 15 years at the shipping magazine Fairplay in various senior roles, including managing editor. He currently resides in Manhattan with his wife and two Shih Tzus.