New Zealand
AIR TERMINALS
- Import cargo terminals are operating as normal.
- Export terminals are operating as normal.
LANDSIDE & CUSTOMS
- Rail scheduling to Auckland inland port (Metroport) via rail from Port of Tauranga is quite inconsistent. Standard rail transit from Tauranga to Metroport has a rough median transit of around 10 days. Containers that have been priority selected prior to discharge in Tauranga have a 2 to 4 day dwell time. Kiwirail have a block of Line maintenance shutdown for 3 days over Labour Weekend which will negatively impact the rail transit time further.
- With the upcoming long weekend and next week being a short week, booking slots at all dehire yards are already scarce. A large portion of the dehire yards are closed over the long weekend so the lack of available bookings will also be in evidence next week. Hubbing and storing empty containers by the local carrier may become necessary again to clear yard space.
- Local carrier fuel surcharge for November remains steady at 18%.
- Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) season started again on 1st September and runs to 30th April 2025. This means MPI has extra requirements for imported cargo from countries that have BMSB populations. Broadly, the procedures and requirements are the same as last season. This means for our LCL containers
Target list countries:
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America
Please speak to your Oceanbridge customer service representative about treatment types and requirements.
Australia
LANDSIDE & CUSTOMS
- Currently, 20’ containers are in short supply across multiple carriers for exports from Australia. Please speak with your Customer Services Representative for options.
- BMSB Season in Australia started 1st September 2024, and runs until 30th April 2025 (inclusive). Measures closely replicate those of last year, with the addition of China and United Kingdom being identified as emerging risk countries (subject to random inspection). Treatment will be required for all cargo from or transshipping via Target Risk Countries. Please speak to your local Oceanbridge representative about treatment types and requirements.
Target list countries:
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China (heightened vessel surveillance only), Croatia, Czechia, France, Japan (heightened vessel surveillance only), Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea (heightened vessel surveillance only), Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine, United States of America, Uzbekistan
Asia
AIR
- Imports – Capacity issues are ongoing from many origins with airlines only quoting and accepting bookings for on-hand shipments.
- Rates are changing daily and generally only valid for 48-72 hours.
- All carriers have warned to expect delays at the transit points of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou.
- Exports – Consolidated shipments are proceeding as planned, with adequate capacity on most carriers.
OCEAN
- Space remains tight from most of Asia, despite additional capacity being added by Maersk from late October. The expectation is that the impacts of this additional capacity won’t be felt until mid-late November.
- Typhoons throughout Asia continue to cause disruption to schedules, with this year’s season seemingly running much later.
- Reminder that we are now coming up to the time of year where Christmas arrivals need to be considered. Depending on the origin, the last sailings to guarantee arrival before Christmas are usually around early-mid November.
- Port congestion remains an issue in the major transshipment ports. Second leg transits will be affected by this.
- Space remains tight on some export services to Asia. We recommend booking at least 2 weeks in advance in order to secure. Please check with your customer service representative for options.
Trans-Tasman
AIR
- Imports – Melbourne consol is working well – 5x per week. Consols from Sydney have been delayed due to increased volume but should be back to normal from first week in November.
- Exports – Consolidations are moving as booked, with available capacity on most carriers.
OCEAN
- Oceanbridge are happy to announce our new direct LCL service between Melbourne and Tauranga – your central North Island bound cargo no longer needs to be unpacked in Auckland, saving both time and cost. Please just let us know if you would like to make a booking by emailing: james.gatley@oceanbridge.com.
- Cosco and OOCL are adding a third vessel to their ANE service. The “Pride C” joins the service November 21st, enabling a weekly direct schedule between Melbourne, Bell Bay, Sydney, Auckland, and Tauranga.
Europe
AIR
- Imports – The additional security measures required from shippers is slowing some shipments and making booking with airlines harder.
- We are currently experiencing delays in transit from Frankfurt, London, and Milan, with the potential for these to increase throughout November.
- Exports – Space into Europe continues to be constrained. Asian carriers can’t get space from NZ as the rates to
Europe from Asia are extremely high.
OCEAN
- BMSB season started on September 1st with the same policies and procedures as last year. Also refer to the ‘New Zealand’ and ‘Australia’ sections of our View from the Bridge for in depth detail on requirements, restrictions, and target countries.
- Peak export season from Europe after summer holidays has filled up some sailings. Currently, 3-4 weeks’ notice for bookings is best to be safe.
- On-going attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea have made all container carriers to NZ avoid the Suez Canal until further notice. There will be delays of approximately 2-3 weeks and extra costs as shipping lines reroute via Cape of Good Hope.
- Vessels are off window arriving into Europe from the Cape. On time arrivals are as low as 21%. This is causing the weekly schedules to be disrupted. This is particularly bad from the UK, where containers are regularly being left behind at the terminal.
- Container shortages are happening particularly at depots that are further inland, e.g., Czech Republic, Austria.
- There are equipment shortages in Turkey.
- 20’ reefers are in low supply across Europe.
- Congestion in Singapore is causing delays in transit of 1-2 weeks.
North America
AIR
- Imports – Although the port strike was called off, a number of shippers converted ocean shipments to air, resulting in a backlog of around 67 airline units to Australia and New Zealand on United Airlines alone.
- Our consols are protected with blocked space but larger ad-hoc shipments are becoming much harder to move, and we are expecting delays in the coming weeks as passenger numbers start to pick up.
- Exports – Space remains tight for shipments into the United States due to limited capacity. Bookings are still
taking up to a week to be confirmed.
OCEAN
- US East Coast & Gulf pending strike action by International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) – After 3 days of strike action, work has resumed at all ports. In the short term there will be delays and congestion while the backlog clears.
- Panama Canal services for ANP/OC1 service with Hapag Lloyd, Maersk and MSC – Continuing low lake levels in the Panama Canal are adversely affecting vessel deadweight capacity. Space is restricted and vessels are booked 3-4 weeks in advance of departure.
- West Coast North America:
- There are only 3 WSN departures every month until Christmas. All vessels are heavily booked with booking lead times of 6+ weeks.
- USA Rail Services; Seattle rail car supply is severely deficient, leading to higher import rail dwell times, with no improvement expected in November.
- US and Canada Port Congestion. US East Coast and Gulf Ports – Residual delays and disruptions will persist for some time as ports, trucking, and rail services operate at full capacity to clear the backlog caused by the strike. Average wait time for a berth is 2 days. Oakland has berthing delays of 3 days. Long Beach has no berthing delays but on port dwell time is increasing to 5-9 days on average. Seattle has delays of 1-2 days with Terminal 18 closed on some Fridays in the coming weeks.
- The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are experiencing rail congestion due to increased volumes. We will continue to monitor the situation and we hope to see improvements over the coming days.
- ANL/Maersk ex LAX have announced blank sailings coming up. Normally a weekly service – there is a gap in the
schedule for 21st October, 11th November, and 2nd December. Once schedule integrity comes back, a weekly service will resume. - Due to East Coast strikes, we have seen Hapag Lloyd roll and reject bookings.
- US Customs continue to randomly inspect comtainers from the US to NZ.
