Congestion at the U.S. West Coast’s busiest ports is disrupting cargo coming from all of the world — not just shipments coming directly from Asia.
The situation has deteriorated to the point where Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-largest container line, has halted all bookings coming from Latin America, a region that accounted for almost a quarter of its volume in 2020.
Shipments face delays of 10 to 13 days at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, a spokesman for the Hamburg, Germany-based company said.
Such operational constraints “are heavily affecting our services connecting some of our Latin America import cargoes,” the carrier’s statement said. “As result, we are facing challenging trans-shipment operations and congestion in Far East and in our main hubs in Latin America including Manzanillo, Mexico.”
The stoppage in new bookings, which took immediate effect when Hapag-Lloyd announced it on April 23, affects cargo from countries including Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica, it said.
A faster-than-expected rebound in demand for goods is causing supply-chain disruptions such as container shortages and severe delays at some of the world’s busiest ports.
Still, there are signs the inbound traffic is lightening up. The number of anchored container ships waiting to offload at L.A.-Long Beach totaled 16 as of Sunday, down from 18 a week earlier and less than half the length of the queue in February.
Elevated rates may extend into the second half of the year given “very strong bookings,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said last month. “I don’t see any signs around the corner that demand is falling off a cliff.”
