How canceled sailings will impact US ports – and when

container ship

Container lines have “blanked” (canceled) an unprecedented number of sailings to bring capacity in line with coronavirus-stricken cargo demand.

Blank-sailings data is a key leading indicator for U.S. ports, cargo shippers, truckers and railways. A container ship that doesn’t depart from Asia equates to a container ship that doesn’t arrive on the U.S. West Coast two to three weeks later, or on the East Coast four to five weeks later.

What matters to American businesses is U.S. port arrivals, not...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-canceled-sailings-will-impact-us-ports-and-when

Second-half container relief after second-quarter disaster?

container port

The coronavirus is a tough nut to crack for economic forecasters, and by extension, container-shipping forecasters. The rebound hinges on at least two colossal unknowns: the future rate of infections and how consumer behavior evolves.

The consensus, which may turn out to be wishful thinking, is that infections will slow and consumers will tentatively get back to their consumption in the second half. If so, container volumes would climb off their lows.

The new container-shipping forecast of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/second-half-container-relief-after-second-quarter-disaster