The tenth WPSP-IAPH COVID19 Port Economic Impact Barometer published today reveals an important development for ports located in countries where lockdown restrictions are being eased. This report accumulates results from ninety ports predominantly located in Europe and the Americas, with some representation from Africa and the Far East.
More ports than in any of the past surveys reported a return to ‘business as normal' as regards the number of cargo vessels calls. Nonetheless, while cargo vessels beyond containerships increasingly arrive at the same numbers as the year before, the container trades continue to suffer from blank sailings. Co-author Professor Theo Notteboom commented: “As reported, during the last week container ports experienced another wave of cancellations from many carriers for the third quarter, although they appear to be lower in numbers than the second quarter.”
The current situation has had serious consequences for some container terminals. Ultra large container ships (ULCS) calls are less frequent in numbers but are filled up with more cargo. Major container ports in both Europe and North America report that the average moves per ULCS per call have significantly increased, with some hubs reaching up to 10.000 TEU moves. This is creating peaks in both ship-to-ship operations and yard activity at the terminals and is starting to impact land-side operations, especially on truck arrivals and departures. Some ports report that it takes days to return back to a normal situation at the yard and gates and lost movements of cargo are on the rise. The workforce in some ports are under increasing pressure as these peaks impact resource on some days, followed by several days off duty with no activity at all.
Cross-border transits more fluid whilst truck availability is declining at some ports