Some European ports are congested but not (yet) related to tariffs, trade wars

Some major European ports are currently experiencing vessel congestion, but doubts have been cast on claims that this is related to the fast-developing trade wars between the US and China.

However, such a scenario has not been ruled out in the coming months.

According to a recent article in The Sunday Times (of London), entitled Chaos at European ports, as trade war leaves ships in limbo, queues of hundreds of ships are building up at maritime gateways in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK amid tit-for-tat tariffs and plans to impose a $1 million fee on Chinese-linked vessels docking at US ports.

One shipping executive told the newspaper: “Stuff coming out of Asia is being canceled left, right and center, or is being diverted to other places”, while a port source said that one perfume and luxury retailer, which had intended to ship goods from China to the US with a stop-off in Europe, had decided not to complete the journey. Instead, the company plans to keep the goods in storage in Europe and attempt to sell them to avoid a tariff.

The article also quoted data from the shipping analytics firm MarineTraffic which showed that in the first week of April, 226 ships called at the Belgian port of Antwerp, compared to 34 in the same week a year ago. And 51 ships called at the port of Southampton, up from 12 in the equivalent week.

The article, which underlined that the figures encompassed all vessels, rather than just container ships laden with consumer goods, went on to note that during the first week in April, 99 ships entered Rotterdam in the Netherlands, a jump from 17 a year before. In Barcelona, there was a similar annual rise in the number of ships docking, from 16 to 96. In Hamburg, 124 ships called in at the port at the start of this month, compared to 11 the year prior.

Conflicting Views on Congestion

However, contacted by AJOT, the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s biggest terminal for container traffic “did not recognize the data from MarineTraffic.”

A spokesperson added: “Every year we receive 28,000 seagoing vessels, so (only) 17 vessels per week would be very extraordinary. Also, a vessel sailing from China to the US would normally take the Transpacific route instead of the Transatlantic. The port is by no means clogged with vessels currently nor is no US-bound cargo being unloaded at Rotterdam.”

Ocean shipping analysts approached by AJOT have also cast doubt on the data attributed to MaritimeTraffic in The Sunday Times article.

“I don’t recognize it, and verification is required,” said Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta, the ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market intelligence platform.

He argued that the current congestion at some major European ports can’t be attributed to raging trade wars nor to ships initially scheduled to operate to the US ending their journeys in Europe because of tariffs and the threat of taxes on China-linked vessels at US ports.

The explanation, he said, lay rather in the combined impact of factors such as new alliance vessel deployments, sporadic industrial action, poor weather conditions, and overcrowded container yards, causing extensive delays and operational disruptions.

“While US importers are busy sourcing and front-loading from Asian countries other than China, 48-60 days from now will we be seeing a flood of Chinese goods arriving in Europe? Time will tell.”

All Time High of Deployed Capacity?

According to analyst Sea-Intelligence, the market may see an all-time high deployment of ocean shipping capacity on Asia to North Europe this week, eclipsing the record set in Week 10-2021 when the COVID pandemic was wreaking havoc on global supply chains. This time around it is more than likely the tariff wars which are prompting manufacturers, importers and exporters across the globe to consider their short, mid- and long-term options.

Meanwhile, on the proposed taxes to be imposed on China-linked vessels calling at US ports – designed to revitalize American shipbuilding – the US Trade Representative is set to make recommendations this week on the details of the charges.

The world’s leading shipping companies, as well as majors in the oil and gas sector, are strongly opposed to the measure as it could add significant costs to cargo transport. They have been lobbying hard to get the Trump administration to row back on the charges.