Well the last fortnight has been one of major disruptions for the FCL USA import trade lane. We have encountered overbooked vessels, shipping lines putting containers on a transhipment service that were booked for direct service and now sending the containers via New Zealand because the Australian ports are getting choked. The high Aussie dollar and the Government insulation scheme has definitely made it difficult to book shipments without incurring a delay in getting on a vessel and also getting shipping lines to stick to their advertised schedules.
The normal yearly peak season may have previously given us the occasional problem with space and sometimes a container may get bumped to the next vessel but this peak season has been unprecedented. Vessels can be booked out up to 3-4 weeks in advance at the moment so hopefully anyone who needs goods for Christmas has already placed their orders and have containers on the water or booked to sail now.
When the Global Financial Crisis hit, all the shipping lines were running half empty and decided to cut their costs by reducing the slot capacity and removing a number of vessels on the trade lanes. Since our dollar increased in value and the insulation became so popular space on the vessels is at a premium with no sign of the shipping lines adding back any of the space they took away in the foreseeable future. This in turn gives the shipping lines the ability to increase rates at any time they choose as businesses will pay what they need to get their cargo onboard.
All indications are that this unprecedented surge in demand for vessel space will continue into 2010, we'll keep you posted of developments.
