Business, Freight News, Sea

COVID-19 Impacts to Port Cargoes

[ May 15, 2020   //   Gary G Burrows ]

Updated April 30, 2020, by the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA).
Containerized cargo is down 20-25% from the same time periods in 2019.
Blank sailings, where ships cancel port calls, resulted in a revenue loss of roughly $300,000 per blank sailing at large ports.
Roll-On/Roll-Off cargos, principally automobiles, are seeing major reductions. One port projects that they will only 1 ship call in the month verses the average of 4 ship calls per week. US car manufacturers have stopped production and the vehicles in the supply chain are wrapping up. Some car manufacturers in Germany and Sweden are talking of restarting production in May but that will take 2 months to reach.
US Bulk cargo movements have declined 15-25% over 2019. Bulk cargos include agricultural products, energy commodities such as oil and coal as well as chemicals.
Break-bulk cargos, non-containerized industrial items, are down 27% year over year, at one Gulf coast port.
Small ports around the country are especially hard hit, where there are often only one or two types of cargo and if demand drops, they go to zero. There are over 800 of these ‘emerging harbors’, processing less than 1 million tons of cargo per year, around the US.

Tags: COVID-19