An explosion of increased trade activities in Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany in the first half of the year has pushed all ports and the transportation infrastructure of these countries well beyond their capacity. Too much freight arriving and coupled with high export volumes from all three countries have led to this current period of severe congestion and significant delays. In some areas, this rapid trade growth is disrupting the natural flow of picking up and distributing containers in a timely and organized manner. As a result, the overflow arising from these containers sitting too long is preventing import containers from being released from rail services.
The timing of the G20 Summit also hurt Hamburg with protesters hindering commercial and public transportation through their protest rallies, demonstrations, and blockades. Elevating these dilemmas are the various reports from OCEANAIR’s network describing significant delays in Hamburg, Rotterdam, and Antwerp after the massive ransom ware virus attack which mainly targeted Maersk Container Terminals. Unfortunately, they are also reporting several other businesses throughout the region are feeling repercussions from the cyber assault, and its aftermath is now spreading to bordering countries.
According to our Agents, over the last ten days, freight is arriving unexpectedly in different European locations than the initial booking because the port congestion forced several vessels to divert from their original landing ports. Because the current situation has pushed barges, container chassis, drivers, trucks, railway capacity, and terminal capacity to their maximum levels, it will take at least 3-4 four weeks for things to return to some level of normalcy. As these problems begin to subside over the next few weeks, it is advisable to consider not choosing alternative routes at this time and book freight as you normally would because there is a good chance the port of arrival will change until there is some relief.
As we have no control of these adverse circumstances, OCEANAIR apologizes for any delays at this time and recommend you contact your representative for further advisement regarding this period of notable delays in Europe.
