Congestion on European inland waterways! The barge waited for 77 hours, 50,000 containers were delayed, and the shipping company charged a congestion surcharge
The recent storms and other severe weather and the collection of surcharges, as well as long-term congestion, are making the cargo owners waiting for freight on the Nordic inland waterways miserable.
In the past week or two, the waiting time at the Rotterdam Barge Terminal has more than doubled to 77 hours, while the congestion in Antwerp has eased, but the average waiting time is still 32 hours; goods shipped from Belgian ports , The shipper still needs to wait more than a day.
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Average waiting time for barges in the harbour-Antwerp: 32 hours; Rotterdam: 77 hours
SeasC4U maritime consultant Gunther Ginckels said, “Congestion at these terminals is nothing new. I have been facing this problem in 2014. Since then, freight volume has increased, but there is not even a meter of berth for inland shipping operations. Increase, the terminal cannot handle more throughput."
At the same time, barge owners are dissatisfied with how the port operates. Ginckels said: "The more serious problem is that barge operators directly refuse to cooperate to optimize capacity and predict cargo flow imbalances."
Ginckels, who serves as a European maritime transport consultant, said that in Antwerp and Rotterdam, every time an ultra-large container ship stops, an average of 3,000 to 5,000 teu of cargo is unloaded for inland navigation.
He said that the refusal to cooperate resulted in 50% of barges sailing empty on the Antwerp or Rotterdam-Rhine-Ruhr route. It is reported that the barge operator Contargo has about 40 barges transporting about 50,000 containers per month, but on Tuesday it has notified customers of the delay.
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This week, Maersk has announced that for inland transportation including Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, all bookings for barges, trains and multimodal transport to and from major European ports will be charged 10 euros per container for congestion. Surcharge: For all truck bookings to and from major European ports, a congestion surcharge of 25 euros per container will be charged.
The fee is valid from May 4th to June 30th. However, if the congestion is not alleviated, the implementation time of the surcharge may be extended.
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In addition, Hapag-Lloyd will also charge an inland surcharge of 25 euros from German ports. Due to traffic congestion in German seaports, all inland transportation to and from Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven will be charged a congestion surcharge of 25 euros per box.
For non-FMC transactions, the fee will be effective from May 15, 2021 until further notice. For FMC (United States) related transactions, this fee will be effective from March 6, 2021 until further notice.
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Ginckels said he expects other large shipping companies to follow suit.
"With the influx of containers after the Suez Canal incident, European container ports have reached the largest storage and handling capacity. As far as I know, the Antwerp seaport terminal is nearly 99% full, and there is no extra space."
“After the shipping company unloaded all the cargo, it collected and piled up export containers for several weeks and returned the ships to Asia, which further exacerbated the congestion.
"The adverse effects of the Suez incident have now burst, and the parties involved (carriers, terminals, intermodal trucks, railway and barge operators) are not responsible, but only added other items to their invoices." Ginckels Say.
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Congestion of inland waterways is nothing new for European shipping companies. In May 2018, the situation reached a tipping point, and shippers experienced a week-long delay, forcing Antwerp to introduce a new barge transportation system to alleviate the congestion that had been plagued for several years.
However, the new system "cannot" be delivered.
Ginckels said, “You can put a large number of barge transportation systems on the market, but if you don’t have a berth to accommodate the capacity of the barge, then these systems will not have any impact, and there is a measure to restrict barge movement less than 25 times at the berth. Also failed."
An industry insider said that the new barge transportation system (BTS) failed to achieve the expected results, and the problem of barge congestion in the Nordic inland waterways is still serious.
"This is not surprising, because the crux of the problem lies in the lack of dedicated barge berths and sufficient capacity." The industry insider said.
