As congestion at South China ports grows due to Covid prevention measures and lines reroute services Ocean Network Express has implemented a $1,000 per reefer container surcharge for Yantian.
Maersk continues to report the eastern terminal of Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT) where mainline vessel berth is operating at 30% of normal productivity.
As with other lines as a result of the low productivity ONE said in a customer advisory dated 10 June that a number of its vessels were omitting calls at Yantian and that it may need to adjust the transportation plans for inbound reefers to the port.
“This may result in extended period of storage of inbound reefers at transhipment port or the discharge of reefer containers at an alternative port without prior notice,” ONE said.
The shipping line said it would encourage customers to change the destination port, especially for time-sensitive cargoes such as fresh, chilled commodities.
“At the same time, ONE has decided to apply a congestion surcharge (CGD) of $1,000 per container to cover additional costs related to the unexpected but necessary arrangement of shipments and associated plug-in charges, monitoring fees etc,” ONE said.
The surcharge is effective for all reefer cargo arriving into Yantian from 10 June, and from 11 July for regulated trades.
Meanwhile in a customer advisory dated 9 June Maersk increased the length of expected delays at Yantian to 16 days and upwards, compared to 15 days and upwards a day earlier.
Container lines have omitted calls or rerouted vessels on well over 100 sailings to South China Ports. Maersk said that 64 vessels from itself and its alliance partners had omitted calls at Yantian and Shekou in an effort to preserve schedule reliability.
As a result just three Maersk sailings are scheduled to call Yantian in the coming week.
Source: Seatrade Maritime
