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Return to Suez transits raises congestion fears at Red Sea ports

Evergreen is planning eight ad hoc Suez Canal and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait transits for its Far East-Europe services, according to Alphaliner, alongside four sailings aimed specifically at the Red Sea market. The Taiwanese carrier's 16,556 teu Ever Eon made its first Suez transit last weekend, on its way from Rotterdam to Singapore on the Ocean Alliance's China Europe Shuttle (CES) service. Three more eastbound CES transits are planned this year, and Ever Even is scheduled to make a westbound passage, reaching Suez on 12 December. Evergreen is also preparing to restore direct Far East-Red Sea connections through its ad hoc OGRD service, deploying vessels of 7,024-9,466 teu, on a rotation including Jeddah, Sokhna, and Aqaba. The first vessel, the 7,024 teu Ever Superb, is scheduled to depart Qingdao on 14 November. Meanwhile, Emirates Shipping Line is launching a fortnightly Central/South China-Red Sea (CRC) service, using three vessels of 2,500-4,900 teu on a fortnightly frequency, serving the same three Red Sea ports of Sokhna, Aqaba, and Jeddah, from Shanghai, Ningbo, and Nansha, with the inaugural sailing scheduled to leave Shanghai on 13 November. The overlapping port choices highlight how the return of direct services could concentrate additional cargo at selected gateways, rather than distributing traffic evenly across the region. However, the capacity implications could differ considerably between terminals. DP World reported that its South Container Terminal at Jeddah handled more than 221,200 teu in July, its highest monthly throughput since operations began in 1999, following a 79% year-on-year increase in first-half volumes. The operator has also invested in additional handling equipment and is expanding capacity, preparing for further growth. Nevertheless, Jeddah has faced operational pressure. In its September update, Expeditors reported congestion at the port, with landside delays of 10-12 days after discharge. The addition of further services could test terminal capacity, while ports receiving fewer calls risk losing traffic and utilisation. Meanwhile, other major carriers are also progressively restoring longer-haul services through Suez. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have confirmed that their ME1 service will return to the canal, joining six other Gemini Cooperation services already using the shorter route. But the transition could create a second congestion risk at North Europe ports. Flexport warned, in its November European freight market update, that vessels taking the shorter route could arrive alongside ships still sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. It forecasts arriving vessel capacity at 131% of normal levels in Week 47, with around 40% of that capacity arriving via Suez - the forwarder identified 31 containerships scheduled to arrive via Suez that week, with 61 coming via the Cape. Flexport considers arrivals exceeding 120% of normal capacity a congestion risk, with at least three weeks forecast to breach that threshold between mid-November and January. Rotterdam is already under pressure, with average container dwell times reaching 3.37 days in Week 42, and yard utilisation running at between 80% and 90%, according to Flexport. While the return to shorter Suez routings could cut transit times by seven to ten days, they risk shifting operational pressure between ports rather than eliminating delays across the supply chain.

Driverless trucking's carriers start to sign - next test: which signatures bind

A month after the debate started shifting from whether a truck can drive itself to whether the business can scale, carriers are committing to own driverless trucks themselves: Kodiak has a binding agreement for 75 trucks, Aurora non-binding plans covering 1,000. Turning those plans into trucks depends on production keeping pace, cash lasting until it does, and a per-mile split that rising driver pay and a pending federal rulebook are both beginning to reshape - my previous Driverless Trucking ...

Spanish box terminals face cargo backlog after general strike

Spain's container terminals are beginning the task of recovering following yesterday's general strike across the country that left box ships waiting at anchor after a slew of terminal closures - but the extent of the cargo backlog remains unclear. Container movements ground to a halt at Algeciras, loading and discharge was suspended at Valencia, and cargo operations requiring the support of dockers stopped at Barcelona, although essential marine services remained unaffected. Trade union confederation CCOO's maritime-sector representative in Valencia for vessel operations, Francisco Martínez, told reporters: "There are no workers available, and there are no vessel operations." And while one forwarder told The Loadstar the strikes had "zero" impact on their operations, AIS tracking data showed the 1,072 teu Contship Zen still at anchor off Valencia last night, with an expectation of berthing this morning. Similarly, the 20,124 teu Ever Gifted also appears to have remained at anchor off of the port, although it having arrived before the strike, its reason for being there may not be attributable to the labour action, even if it hinders efforts to clear the backlog. The scale and duration of any backlog will depend on how quickly terminals restore normal productivity, and whether carriers have had to revise their rotations or roll cargo, but requests by The Loadstar to glean this information from terminal operators today have fallen on deaf ears. Spain's logistics employers' association, UNO, suggested the wider impact on the country's, and the EU's, logistics and transport sector would be "limited and localised", but did note that both Algeciras and Valencia would be exposed to the worst of the disruption. Operations at both APMT's Algeciras and Total Terminal International Algeciras were halted between 2am on 11 November and 2am on 12 November, bringing container movements to a standstill at one of the major Mediterranean transhipment hubs. Another vessel seemingly awaiting a berth at Algeciras is the CMA CGM Tiga, AIS data showing it as having made slow approaches to the port after anchoring off it in the early hours of yesterday. A spokesperson for APMT's Spanish operations, which include Algeciras, told The Loadstar: "Minimum service levels established by the Spanish Ministry and Port Authorities for the 11 November general strike were fully met across APM Terminals' facilities in Spain. "In Algeciras, there was no participation in the strike by APMT employees or contractors, and the limited operational impact was primarily linked to previously announced weather-related restrictions in Campo de Gibraltar." To minimise disruption, the spokesperson noted that vessel operations were scheduled around the strike, while some terminals maintained services or extended operating hours to accommodate cargo flows, and added that all terminals were "currently operating normally". Despite UNO and the forwarder downplaying the strike's impact, Juan Diego Pedrero, president of the Spanish Association of Private Railway Companies, told local media: "I don't have percentages, but it is undoubtedly having an impact." Mr Pedrero added that "activity across the ports has heavily slowed, and this is affecting rail-port traffic, particularly at the ports of Valencia and Barcelona", as local reports suggested dozens of freight services being cancelled.