37% of all containers are rolled over, Ocean Insights
According to a new research from data tracking firm Ocean Insights, more than one in three containers shipped globally in December were rolled-over at transhipment hubs.
The level of rollovers is calculated on the basis of percentage of cargo from a line that left port on a different vessel than originally scheduled. Average rollover rates at ports surveyed by Ocean Insights increased to 37% in December and in some ports went past the 50% mark.
“Of the 20 global ports for which Ocean Insights collates data, 75% saw an increase in rollover cargo in December, compared with the previous month,” said Ocean insights’ chief operations officer, Josh Brazil.
“Major transhipment facilities such as Port Klang in Malaysia and Colombo (pictured above) in Sri Lanka recorded 50% or more of cargo delayed, with the world’s largest transhipment hub in Singapore, and leading primary ports such as Shanghai and Busan, rolling-over more than a third of their containers last month,” he continued.
“This indicates that the levels of cargo are still rising, while the extra loader capacity deployed to meet the raised levels of demand appears to be having little effect,” explained Mr. Brazil.
And it was thoroughly mixed picture at some of the world’s second-tier transhipment hubs: Gioia Tauro and Cartagena saw rollover ratios of 62% and 56% respectively, while Salalah saw 22%.
The figures from Ocean Insights illustrate the impact the collapse in demand in the first half of last year followed by a 30% surge in demand in the second half of 2020, and a resulting shortage of containers that has left shippers scrambled for equipment to ship their goods in.
It was a slightly different picture for carriers, however, with an industry average of 35% of shipments rolled at transhipment ports.
And while most carriers saw an increase in rollovers, 2M partners Maersk and MSC managed to “stem the rise of rollover cargo month on month, both recording the same level of rollovers in December as in the previous month,” while Maersk subsidiary Hamburg Süd actually saw rollovers decrease by 1%.
The shipping lines with the highest rollover rates in December according to Ocean Insights were CMA CGM with 51%, Ocean Network Express (ONE) with 50% and HMM with 46%.
