March 31, 2021 - Update 14
The clearing of vessels waiting at the Suez Canal is going well and after the canal was reopened for passage, we have seen 43 vessels from the total queue pass Monday, 66 Tuesday and we expect close to max capacity pass today. Maersk and partners have so far seen 17 vessels waiting at anchorage transit the canal, three of them being Triple Es. Based on this, and a steady flow of vessels still arriving the queue, we still expect that it would take until end of this week to move the complete queue through the canal, conditional to safety and other operational circumstances.
We are closely looking at how we can adjust the network to avoid port congestions and we are so far managing to plan vessel calls without major clashes. We will be working directly with our customers on their import shipments, minimising delays as best possible. The next challenge is to get the services back on schedule, as we have near 50 vessels delayed for a full week or more due to the Suez blockage, either waiting at the Canal or being redirected South of Africa.
When the delayed vessels start hitting the next load ports in both Asia and Europe, we cannot avoid a significant impact on our equipment availability and capacity availability in the coming period. We urge our customers not to think that the situation is resolved and advise you to prioritise the most urgent/critical goods to be shipped first due to the foreseeable limitations in the weeks to come. Our teams are ready to serve you, so do not hesitate to reach out for individual assessment as of what this means for you.
We are doing our utmost to mitigate the impact on lost capacity and because of this, we have decided to temporarily cease short term bookings placed via Spot, as well as short term contracts this week and in the immediate future on selected trades. We want to assure you that this is only temporary and besides the geographical services mentioned here we will be accepting short term bookings on all other services, where local availability allows.
*Besides the geographical services mentioned above, we will be accepting short term bookings on all other services, where local availability allows.
In terms of equipment, there are three factors we need to consider: The first is the continuation of our current efforts to position both dry and reefer equipment as intended and needed at origin. The second is that we are still reviewing how sailings in the coming weeks may be adjusted, which will affect the delivery of both laden and empty containers to those origins. Finally, we need to take into account terminal capacity around the world as a variable; terminals and container yards are currently faced with capacity restrictions in many locations.
Your business is of the utmost value to us and throughout this process we aim to give as much clarity and notice as possible. We regret the inconvenience this incident may cause to your business in a time where certain industries may already be stretched due to the pandemic.
Please don't hesitate to contact your local Maersk representative should you have any questions.