2M partners, Maersk and MSC, recently advised customers their AE7/Condor Loop 4 would omit Hamburg for the next four weeks to discharge cargo at Bremerhaven.
Maersk said that it had made the decision “as a result of high yard density and exceptional waiting time for our vessels in the port of Hamburg”.
MSC referred to “a severe congestion issue” at Hamburg’s Eurogate Terminal, stating that this was “impacting schedule reliability and causing delays to shipments”. Both carriers have confirmed that discharge of the cargo at Bremerhaven would constitute “end of carriage”, as per their respective bills of lading.
2M’s Loop 4 deploys 10 ships with an average 17,916 TEU of capacity.
Although shippers would incur extra haulage costs as a result of the change in destination, MSC said that it was “not in a position to accept liability” for any additional costs as a consequence of the diversion.
That was seen in the market as an expression of the position of strength in which carriers currently find themselves, with little to no spare capacity in container shipping anywhere in the world.
Road access disruption by Extinction Rebellion climate activists in the past couple of weeks was reported to have added to the congestion problems at Hamburg’s container terminals.