Multinational Ports Congestion, Importers Or Abandonment! Please Pay Attention To The Freight Forwarding And Foreign Trade In The Near Future.

Ports in South America, Africa and Asia are congested. In case of epidemic spreading and economic slump, the importers should be cautious of abandoning the export trade.

In early June, Santos, the largest container port in South America, was heavily congested in Brazil. More than 70 ships were queuing up to load sugar for export, and buyers from all over the world rushed to buy goods before the epidemic could affect them. All ships were shipped or completed for a month. (details of the article: 70 ships lined up, South America's largest container port congestion serious! Shipment must be noted! )

However, not only Santos, but also some ports are being congested. At present, the more crowded ports are as follows:

1. in Lagos, the port of Apapa was heavily congested and the ship was forced to wait for 50 days.

According to foreign media reports, many ships that ship goods to the Nigeria harbour are forced to wait for 50 days at the berth before they can enter the port to unload fully loaded containers, causing serious congestion in each port.

At present, the ship has been waiting for several days in Lagos, Nigeria and TIN CAN port. In addition to the increase in transit time, some 1000 containers of raw materials were left along the export corridor due to traffic disruption caused by trucks carrying goods.

In addition, more than 800 export containers have been discarded at the Papa port because of port congestion, and goods are not allowed to enter the terminal. Therefore, the Nigeria shippers Council (NSC) ensured that Papa could resume the evacuation of goods through railways.

In the face of heavy traffic in the port, Bello, executive secretary of the Nigeria shipper Council (Bello), represented by Ifeoma Ezedinma, director of Supervision Services Department, said that the Council recently promoted the signing of the new standard operation procedure (SOP) between Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) and APM terminal, and wanted to eliminate port congestion through the railway system.

Bello attended the meeting between NRC and APM wharf, and the director of the Council's regulatory services bureau said: "congestion is blamed on importers abandoning the consignment that has arrived at the port. Many importers refuse to clear the goods because they are not sure when to deliver the goods. Looking ahead, the ultimate goal is to ensure that imported goods are transported by rail or barge, while raw materials for export allow road transport. "

The Council has recently received many complaints that exports can not be transferred to ports. They explained: "we should not stack containers in ports. Ports are not warehouses, and these importers are reluctant to take goods, because they do not have their own warehouses, and they think it is safer and cheaper in the port.

They also said that many warehouses were blocked during the blockade. Therefore, they prefer to leave containers in port. The joint effect is that the boat only pays in front of the berth, adding that the 50 day is a lot of money, but guess who paid? Maybe it's terminal consumers.

2. Cape Town congestion delays shipping companies charge congestion fees

The Cape Town container terminal in South Africa is suffering from severe congestion due to the epidemic. The ship has been docked for up to a week. This forced the shipping company to serve the South African route to reset the sailing schedule and to collect the port congestion surcharge for the shippers who continue to use the eastern Cape Town port. The Cape Town container terminal is located in the South China Sea.

In June 18th, CMA CGM announced that Cape Town will charge 550 dollars per 20 foot chest and 1100 dollars per 40 foot chest for dry cargo containers and refrigerated containers, effective July 1st.

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　　 This is the same day that the general cost of each container for South Africa imported from Asia is restored to $200. At the same time, Ma Shiji, ONE and DAL jointly provided the European container service company (SAECS) in Cape Town, which will bypass the port of Cape Town and turn to South Africa to concentrate on Durban and en cola.

It is understood that Cape Town is one of the regions with the highest Covid-19 infection rate in the country. A number of cases have been reported in Cape Town container terminal workers, which resulted in a significant reduction in the service of the port wharf, resulting in a delay of up to a week.

However, Maersk said in a consultation this week that it is transforming its WAF1 service (usually provided by a route from Algeciras (Algeciras) to Durban (Durban) to West Africa port) into a dedicated shuttle feeder between Cape Town and Algeciras.

Maersk said: "according to customer demand, we will further deploy additional regional aircraft from CPT to continue transshipment to Europe. We believe that according to the current port and market conditions, the plan is the best solution. However, we fully understand that the dynamics of port conditions in South Africa may continue to change. Therefore, during the remaining time of the citrus season, Maersk will continue to reassess our products every week to ensure that it meets the needs of customers.

With the arrival of the peak season for citrus transport, it is predicted that citrus growers in South Africa will create a record harvest of 143 million 300 thousand containers this year, an increase of 13% over 2019. Citrus Growers Association said, "congestion at some ports is still the biggest threat to the citrus season."

However, Maersk said:

1. we have deployed more transmission branch ships on the coast of South Africa, which gives us more options for faster loading of goods and flexible replacement of terminals. In the absence of SAECS rotation in Cape Town, we will still deploy the same number of vessels. We hope that there will be enough cushioning to ensure that goods arrive in Europe in time to reduce the omissions or serious delays in European ports, and at the same time, greatly shorten the transit time from Durban.

2. from Cape Town to Algeciras, our goal is to provide dedicated and reliable services for the market by shortening the time of rapid entry into the Mediterranean. The cargo to northern Europe and Russia will be transhipped in Algeciras, with minimal impact on transit time.

In the rest of the month, there will be some overlap between the two services. We plan to make the two Cape Town SAECS call in June 25th and 29th.

3. new channels for Chittagong, Bangladesh

It is reported that Chittagong has opened a new container barge service, which can be priority berthing to avoid congestion. At the same time, the route service is also connected with important transit ports such as Singapore, Klang port and Colombo.

The container barge service started in Chittagong port in June 22nd, which opened up a new channel for the carrier to transport barge cargo to trunk ships. The new Bangladesh Express Service service is operated by the local shipping company HR Lines using two 1500 TEU sister ships Sarera and Sahare, and will start from Chittagong on Monday.

According to the 2019 flag of Bangladesh (protection) act, these ships will enjoy priority berths in Chittagong and have the right to load up to 50% of import and export cargo.

Shippers welcomed the new branch service, because its priority berths will help them deliver containers earlier, while other vessels may face congestion in Chittagong. Clothing exporter Sahed Hossain said: "this is good news for us. The fixed day service will ensure that our goods arrive in time to catch up with the big ships.

Reminder: Bangladesh customs requests the time limit for entry list to be shortened to five days.

During the public holidays from March 26th to May 31st during the outbreak of Covid-19, importers did not accept the delivery of goods due to the closure of ports, so the importation of goods continued to accumulate at ports and exceeded their affordability.

The customs authorities stipulate that in order to relieve congestion, importers must submit the entry form within five working days after the arrival of the imported goods. The chancellor of the exchequer proposed in parliament on Thursday that the regulation will come into force on June 11th, according to the provisional tax law of 1931. As of June 10th, the longest period of submission is 30 days.

A senior customs official said that if the goods were not released within five days, the customs would take disciplinary measures in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Act 1969. After importing the general import manifest (IGM), importers must submit their entry lists to the relevant customs officials in accordance with the provisions of article seventy-ninth (1B) of the Customs Law.

The customs also imposed more stringent punitive provisions on importers making false declaration of import and export goods.

1. traders must pay a fine of at least two times to four times the amount of tax leaked by false declaration.

2. the customs may also confiscate goods carried by false declaration.

3. an importer or exporter may also be sentenced to no more than five years' imprisonment or a penalty of not more than 50000 Tk or both.

Officials said that the delay in the delivery of entry documents and other documents led to congestion at the port because customs related activities only started after the submission of documents. However, importers believe that the time limit should be extended to two weeks, as many of them face transport problems, labor shortages and, in some cases, not able to release goods on public holidays.

Solaiman Parsee Faisal, managing director of Faisal Polymer Limited, said that no importer deliberately left the goods in the port for a long time, because they had to consider not having the warehouse rent for the timely clearance of the goods.

Mohamed Iqbal Jamal Iqbal Jamal, the former joint financial convener of the FBCCI, said that it should give the importers a certain scope to explain the delay in submitting entries to the Mohammad. He added that customs could be exempted from fines if the importer could show proper reasons.

4. increase congestion surcharge at Libya port

According to reports, as of June 16, 2020, the port of Libya closed Soult and Dana. Benghazi port is seriously congested.

Taking into account the improvement of traffic congestion in Benghazi, Libya, the Da Fei ship will modify the port congestion surcharge.

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　　 The specific information is as follows:

Box type: all sizes (20'/ 40'/ 45') and container type (dry / chilled / special equipment / OOG)

Amount: $35 / standard box.

Date of application: June 16, 2020 (except Brazil: July 16, 2020 to August 30th)

The above is the latest port congestion situation in the near future. Please let export traders concerned pay attention to avoid unnecessary losses.