According to one UK index, boxport congestion has returned to pre-covid levels. According to the most recent Clarksons Research data, a key driver of liner shipping’s recent record earnings has vanished.
Clarksons containership port congestion index closed at 31.5% on Friday, matching the pre-covid (2016 – 2019) average of 31.6%. The figures for Friday represented the lowest daily average since October 2019.
The Clarksons data was questioned by Peter Sand, chief analyst at freight rate platform Xeneta, who agreed with Sea-Intelligence that port congestion should be “history books” by the end of the first quarter.
Sand noted that covid had heavily obscured the congestion picture in recent weeks, with China, where the disease has spread rapidly over the past month, experiencing congestion at its ports reaching highs not seen in two and a half years, while the US east coast is at one-year lows, and congestion across Europe is down to two-year lows.
As a provider of international container shipping services, VSL LOGISTICS LTD, along with all stakeholders, welcomes this news and hopes that lower congestion levels will help to relieve pressure on the freight market and change the advantage that shipping lines have had for the past two years.
