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| world's major shipping ports |
According to a new report by maritime consultancy Drewry, major shipping ports around the world are facing severe congestion due to the Red Sea crisis, and Singapore is a prime example.
Although throughput at the Port of Singapore increased by 8% year-on-year in the five months leading up to May, port throughput suffered a 22% increase in average parcel volumes, according to the Drewry report.
The report reveals that handling time for 1,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) rose 10% to 0.32 days, which translates to a 41% increase in interchange times for very large container ships, from 1.1 days in January to 1.7 days in May.
The escalating crisis is due to sudden changes in the rerouting of ships, which leads to increased congestion of yards and a decrease in port productivity.
Also due to the large number of empty sailings, crowded yards, and prioritization of mainline ships over feeder ships, which led to the disruption of mainline feeder services.
The current congestion differs from pandemic-era congestion, which primarily affected gateway ports due to high demand for cargo and domestic transport congestion, the Drewry report noted. On the other hand, the current crisis directly affects transshipment centers.
The Drewry report predicts that congestion at major shipping ports will remain a major problem. However, slight relief is expected as carriers provide additional capacity and restore some of their disrupted schedules
