Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Oct. 17-23

October 18, 2012 by Brian Feito|Exports

The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Oct. 17-23. 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. 17-23 include:

Over the next 3 weeks, the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Norfolk, and Savannah 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, New York, and Savannah during the next 3 weeks. Availability in Norfolk is also expected to increase, except for 40ft refrigerated containers.
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 and 20ft containers in Memphis.
As grain harvest reaches the final stretch, exporters will be searching for containers, particularly 20ft dry containers when available, to move these products overseas. Inland locations such as Chicago, Kansas City and Minneapolis move significant amounts of containerized grain. Over the next 3 weeks, availability of 20ft containers in these locations is expected to increase. In terms of port locations, Los Angeles/Long Beach, Seattle, Tacoma, and Norfolk are important to containerized grain exporters. Each location, with the exception of Tacoma, is expected in have an increased number of available 20ft containers.
Over the next 3 weeks, a deficit of refrigerated containers is expected in Tacoma, Minneapolis, and Memphis. However, availability of reefers in Minneapolis and Tacoma improved over the previous week. In terms of dry containers, estimated availability in Houston remains negative this week with a slight improvement over 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.