Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Oct. 3-9

October 4, 2012 by Brian Feito|Exports

The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Oct. 3-9. The weekly report contains data on container availability for westbound transpacific traffic at 18 intermodal locations in the U.S.¹ from the eight member carriers of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA).² Although the report is compiled by AMS, it covers container availability for all merchandise, not just agricultural products.

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Weekly Estimates for Next 3 Weeks on 5 Types of Containers; Includes Maps, Tables

Estimates are available for the current week, as well as the subsequent two weeks, for each of the following five types of shipping containers: 20ft dry, 40ft dry, 40ft high-cube (HC), 20ft reefer, and 40ft reefer. The report has tables for each intermodal location showing availability of each type of shipping container from each carrier (carriers are anonymous).

Highlights of the report for the week of Oct. 3-9 include:

Over the next 3 weeks, the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York are expected to have the most available containers among the port locations reported. Availability for all equipment types is expected to increase at Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York during the next 3 weeks. New York is expected to have a large increase in 20ft dry containers availability.
Among the inland locations reported, Dallas, Chicago, and Memphis are expected to have the most containers available over the next 3 weeks. Availability is estimated to increase each week for all container types except for overall refrigerated equipment in Chicago.
The number of refrigerated containers available over the next three weeks in Minneapolis, Oakland, and Tacoma is estimated to be negative—the biggest deficit from the participating carriers is expected in Tacoma. However, the estimated number of available refrigerated containers increased over the previous week in Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Savannah, and Cincinnati.
Over the next 3 weeks, most locations reported are estimated to have increasing availability of dry containers—significant jumps are expected in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Kansas City, Memphis, New York, Savannah, and Charleston.
Estimated availability of all equipment types at most locations has increased this week from the previous week. This week’s 3-week estimate is significantly higher than the previous week in Charleston, Savannah, and Chicago. Continued movement of peakseason retail products are probably helping container pools in major population centers. However, 3-week estimates in Tacoma and Houston are significantly lower than the previous week.

¹The 18 intermodal locations included in the report are Long Beach/Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, Denver, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Memphis, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah.

²These carriers are COSCO, Evergreen, Hanjin Shipping, Hapag Lloyd, Yang Ming Transport Corporation, OOCL, K Line, and Hyundai Merchant Marine. NYK is no longer a member, AMS said.