Transshipment trend amidst blank sailings

The latest IAPH-WSP Port Economic Barometer report for weeks 22 and 23 has highlighted that blank sailings, mainly on trade routes with the Far East, continue to affect results for container vessel calls, albeit with lesser impact than the last five weeks. 39% of the ports’ container ship calls fell in the last two weeks by 5 to 25% (45% of week 21), with 6% experiencing significant drop (in excess of 25%).

Taking data from 104 participating ports, the report notes that these blank sailings have particularly affected the number of mainline vessel calls at hub ports, with a peak in Europe during week 19. Other regions do not appear to have reached a peak as yet but are also clearly negatively impacted.

Professor Theo Notteboom, who co-authors the report, commented: “Overall, a very fragmented situation for container shipping is becoming evident: some alliances have revamped services, whilst others are keeping cancellations. Some are keeping hi-frequency feeders to major regional ports. A new regional concept for transshipment appears to be emerging.”

Road/rail progress

76% of the ports report normal or return-to-normal operations in cross-border transport by truck, however actual volumes on the road are significantly lower in many regions, especially in South America.

Both rail and barge intermodal service have seen less delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with respectively 87% and 80% of applicable ports reporting normal operation