Why are we now seeing an increase in anchorage ships in UK and worldwide waters?

UK ports are seeing an increase of container ships anchored off their shores at the moment.  With an increase in imports, mostly from East Asia, since the Covid-19 pandemic, the terminals are having difficulty processing all the cargo from the vessels fast enough. Ships are having to wait days, even weeks, for the chance to dock at the ports and offload their goods.

With a serge in buying from China, Chinese exporters have struggled to get their hands on empty containers. This is due to the canceled trips at the beginning of the pandemic, which also saw delays in processing containers due to disruptions and inefficiencies. 

The anchorage in the UK has not been helped by the impact that the Ever Given has caused. In March 2021 one of the worlds largest cargo ships got stuck in the Suez Canal in Egypt. While the blockage didn’t affect Asia-West Coast shipping corridor it added to the global shortage of ships and containers by stranding even more of them out at sea.

In May 2021 there was a COVID-19 outbreak at one of the busiest ports in the world, The Yantian International Container Terminal, in China. The Chinese government implemented stringent measures to control the outbreak, and as a result, more than 40 container ships had to anchor and wait. Adding to the ongoing issues. 

There has been a rise in importers and exporters competing and bidding up the price of scarce containers and vessels. Prices have tripled from China and East Asia since 2019 and there is no end to these delays in sight.  It has been said that we are not even considered to be in the peak season for the shipping industry yet. With the anchorage looking to be here for the foreseeable future KTL Europe will of course keep its customers updated. 

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