POSITION | MARITIME TRANSPORT | MOBILITY & LOGISTICS
Tensions in International Container Shipping Four key demands of the maritime shippers’ industry
June 3, 2021
Background The 400-meter, 224,000-ton, fully loaded container cargo ship EVER GIVEN, flying the flag of Panama, went off course in the Suez Canal on March 23, blocking passage through the Suez Canal in both directions for about a week. At 193 kilometres, the Suez Canal is the shortest sea route between Asia and Europe. In 2019, nearly 19,000 ships passed through the canal, over 50 ships daily; just under twelve percent of global trade (see https://de.statista.com). The incident therefore subsequently led to a significant backlog of nearly 400 ships at both entrances to the canal, with negative effects on maritime supply chains. This is because the blockade, with its after-effects on industry supply chains, came at an inopportune time and exacerbated a tension situation in international container shipping that had been building up since the end of 2020. Even before the blockade, however, maritime shippers reflected the tense situation in container shipping, especially on routes between Asia and Europe: a lack of container availability, a lack of transport capacity and unpunctuality of ship arrivals, as well as quality deficits coupled with rising transport costs, had already been affecting supply chains across sectors and in some cases also production processes since the turn of the year. Increasingly incalculable freight costs for container shipments, for example on sea routes to North America that are important for German industry, are making it difficult for companies to plan their logistics processes as a result of short-term and unforeseeable additional costs, which also have a considerable impact on product prices. Furthermore, a noticeable increase in the postponement of container departure times and dates by shipping companies is an additional burden on the industry's ability to plan maritime supply chains and production processes. The resulting delays in import and export shipments, some of which are substantial and can last several weeks, are detrimental to companies. Additional transport volumes can hardly be found at short notice and in some cases can only be shipped after several weeks while in some cases contractually agreed volumes are not being met by the shipping companies. The blockade in the Suez Canal further exacerbated the situation. As a result, the shippers’ industry, which relies on raw material or component deliveries as well as the shipment of its finished goods and
Robin Kunst | Mobility and Logistics | T: +49 30 2028-1751 | r.kunst@bdi.eu | www.bdi.eu