Congestion at ports because of Covid-19 and its knock-on effects has seen an increasing number of containerships idling, as they wait for berth spaces to open up.
Container shipping platform Seaexplorer, created by logistics company Kuehne+Nagel, said that as of July 20th there were 328 ships idling in front of ports around the world, with 116 ports reporting challenges such as congestion.
A month ago there were 304 ships idling in front of ports and 101 ports reporting disruption.
Approaching 10% of the world’s shipping capacity has been taken out due to port congestion issues. Over the past month a backlog from Yantian in south China after a late-May outbreak of Covid-19 has led to a doubling in the number of ships waiting outside Singapore and the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Covid-19 cases on land has seen many other port areas come under huge strain. There is a growing queue of ships waiting to call in southern Vietnam, a region placed under lockdown from Sunday July 18th.