Any hopes for 2022 to be a better year for the supply chain are fading. At least in the short term.
It’s not that no one is trying. Everyone is part of the effort to return to pre-pandemic schedule reliability. Most recently, carriers have started to use sweeper vessels to return empties to Asia. But the ships are costly and hard to find, meaning there are significant limitations to this endeavor. As of the end of January, empty containers still made up about 45% of all the boxes at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
So instead of breathing a sigh of relief, those in the container shipping market should prepare themselves for another bumpy year—and perhaps even into 2023. Things will improve at some point.
It’s hard to think about right now, but you can expect a different angle on all the talk of empty boxes in ports at some point. Production of containers has been high since mid-2020 in order to meet demand. But the demand isn’t wholly because of an increase in cargo. Much of the shortage is simply because the boxes are in the wrong locations. So when the industry returns to normal, what will it do with all empty—and no longer necessary—containers?
With containers costing more and carriers imposing fees on boxes sitting in ports for weeks, importers are pushing back, and Congress is stepping in. Importers feel that while they have no choice but to pay current rates for containers, they shouldn’t be paying for fees. On Thursday, members of Congress introduced legislation to make changes to the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which would place restrictions on carriers wanting to impose extra fees on container handling.
As for fees against ocean carriers for containers with a dwell time of nine or more days at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach—they’ve been delayed again.
Finally, the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is considering enforcing a minimum required amount of information on bills for demurrage and detention charges. They’re currently requesting feedback on what type of information should be included.
