shipping companies are switching their port calls from Rotterdam to nearby ports, Antwerp being among the top choices. German shipper Hapag-Lloyd has switched several vessel calls from Rotterdam to Antwerp amid congestion.
The latest to join the switch is Hong Kong-based container shipping company Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL). OOCL said on Friday that due to the congestion situation at Rotterdam, three sailings on the Asia-Europe Loop 4 service where the port of calls to Rotterdam will be shifted to Antwerp on a temporary basis:
Basle Express 009W/009E – ATD Ningbo on 23 August / ETA Antwerp on 1 October
Hamburg Express 011W/011E – ATD Ningbo on 1 September / ETA Antwerp on 8 October
NYK Hermes 006W/006E – ETD Ningbo on 7 September / ETA Antwerp on 14 October
The service adjustments above are in addition to those announced on last month. OOCL said that the current port rotation of Loop 4 is Ningbo / Shanghai / Yantian / Singapore / Le Havre / Southampton / Hamburg / Rotterdam / Jeddah / Singapore / Yantian / Ningbo.
The congestion which troubled the Rotterdam container sector during the past few months seems to be decreasing, the Port Rotterdam Authority said last week. Inland shipping operators reported that increasingly more ships are being handled on schedule. Sector organisation CBRB said that the handling of inland shipping by ECT’s Delta Terminal on the Maasvlakte has improved greatly over the past one-and-a-half weeks, but that waiting times are still not what they should be.
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