Renewed disruptions, backlogs, and even possibly “chaos” had been predicted throughout the shipping industry as China ramped up operations in Shanghai and resumed manufacturing and supply chain operations after an eight-week lockdown, said maritime and marine news provider The Maritime Executive.

In a report on Wednesday (May 18), the portal said vessel diversions increased rapidly starting in mid-April resulting in a growing amount of export cargo not shipped and now the restart in operations was expected to come just as the shipping industry traditional moved toward a peak season as retailers built inventories for the end of summer and then holiday season sales in the US and Europe.

It said a new survey of 200 individuals from across the container logistics industry conducted by logistics platform Container xChange forecast that this year’s summer peak season cargo surge would be even more chaotic for global supply chains than the 2021 peak shipping season.

It said half of the respondents to the latest Container xChange survey “xChange Industry Pulse Survey” said they expected the 2022 peak season to be “worse” than last year.

A further 22% expected similar challenges to 2021 while only a quarter said they expected this year’s peak season would be less chaotic than in 2021.

The Maritime Executive said this came despite the dramatic progress made by ports around the world in reducing or eliminating their backlogs.

Similarly, it said the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were reporting that they had reduced congestion by two-thirds.

It said the Marine Exchange of Southern California reported on Tuesday that only seven container ships were waiting at the anchorage with an additional 30 having made reservations and slow steam or waiting further out to sea.

That was down from a peak of over 100 container ships waiting at the beginning of 2022, it said.
Source: The Edge