The port is one of the most important transportation facilities in a country, and can play a key role in the country's economic development, especially the development of the international community, but due to the continuous increase in freight volume and other reasons, many ports have different degrees of high-quality authorship crowding, which also leads to the port industry and regional economic development have been restricted to a certain extent. Causes of port congestion
Adverse weather conditions
Such as storms, typhoons, heavy rains, fog, heavy snow, etc.
On February 1, 2021, a severe snowstorm swept through the northeastern region of the United States on February 1, and a state of emergency was declared in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, and land and air transportation was suspended. A record 40 container ships were moored in San Pedro Bay. Due to the shortage of ports, major shipping companies have canceled many voyages.
Geological hazards
Disasters such as tsunamis can have a significant impact on ports, and for seaborne cargo, this can lead to changes in routes and transit cycles.
On February 6, 2023, a strong ** occurred in the southern part of Turkey near the border with Syria, and the port of Iskenderun was suspended, and shipping companies such as Maersk, CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Holdings, and ONE were forced to transfer their ships to other terminals in the region and release customer information one after another. As a result, the number of ships arriving, departing, in-port and berthing at the port of Iskenderun has dropped significantly.
Political factors
Wars, terrorist attacks, piracy, etc. will have a certain impact on shipping, resulting in temporary cancellation or rescheduling of shipping schedules.
On July 17, 2023, the Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects the Crimean peninsula, was bombed, partially damaging the road pavement and blocking traffic for several kilometers. The Kerch Strait was closed to traffic, and more than 100 ships were stranded at the Kerch Strait anchorage.
Ship damage or breakdown
In March 2021, the Panamanian-flagged freighter "Ever Given" of Evergreen Group ran aground in the Suez Canal, causing the entire canal to be blocked for six days, and more than 400 ships were blocked or forced to change routes on the way, with a loss of up to $400 million per hour.
Labor shortages
On June 7, 2022, South Korean cargo truck workers went on strike for 8 days, causing the median weekly dwell time of ships at the port of Busan, South Korea, to soar, with the average dwell time of imported containers at South Korea's major container ports being 1429 days, up from the usual 4 days;The average dwell time of an export container increased from 3 in the previous week5 days up to 1138 days. South Korea's busiest container port, Busan, saw cargo throughput at a quarter of its usual level** during the strike, while the port of Incheon saw its throughput drop by about 20%.
Inadequate port terminal infrastructure
In 2017, the crane derailment in Chittagong led to a decrease in the port's loading and unloading capacity, which took 15-20 days for container loading and unloading, and delayed the port call time for ships by 7-8 days, resulting in the worst port delay in history. About 80% of Bangladesh's garment exports are transported through Chittagong port, and if this situation continues, it may have a greater impact on Bangladesh's garment industry exports, leading to the transfer of overseas orders to countries such as Ethiopia, India, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Epidemics
In March 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 virus, Indian truck drivers returned to their hometowns, ports were suspended, and due to no one to pick up goods, more than 50,000 shipping containers in 23 container freight stations and private container terminals in Chennai, Kamajalal and Katupari were not cleared, and major ports and freight terminals were congested.
In addition, there are many factors that will cause port congestion, such as the efficiency of ship loading plans, overloading of shipping space, large-scale ships and shipping alliances, ship sharing, empty container transfer, route adjustment, bankruptcy of large shipping companies, port production efficiency level, imperfect port collection and distribution system, low level of port informatization, unexpected surge in goods, substantial increase in import and export goods, and poor cooperation between port and shipping enterprises and administrative departments.
The economic impact of port congestion
1. Port congestion affects the efficiency of port operations, resulting in the extension of the time for ships to call at the port, and increasing the comprehensive transportation cost of ships.
2. A large number of goods are backlogged at the port terminal and need to be transported by land, and many freight companies need to transport, store and lift them overnight, and the cost of the carrier increases.
3. The high density of container storage in the port area will also have an impact on the operation efficiency of the terminal, which is easy to lead to traffic congestion around the area.
4. A large number of goods are piled up, which provides opportunities for some illegal thieves. In the first nine months of 2021, during the worst period of congestion at the ports of the United States, the amount of goods stolen from the ports of the United States reached $45 million, and the amount of stolen goods in the third quarter was $5 million, 42% higher than the year-on-year, and most of the stolen goods were electronics and refrigerated food.