Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Oct. 24-30
The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Oct. 24-30. 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. 24-30 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 reported port locations. Availability for all equipment types is expected to increase at New York and Savannah during the next 3 weeks. Availability at Los Angeles/Long Beach is expected to increase for most equipment types, but decrease slightly for 40ft high-cube and refrigerated containers. Availability in Norfolk is expected to increase, except for 40ft refrigerated containers.
- Among the reported inland locations, 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 refrigerated equipment in Chicago.
- Compared with the previous week, container availability at Tacoma, Houston, and Savannah experienced the biggest increases. In fact, availability at more than half the reported locations saw increases over the previous week, probably due to continued strong retail import cargo supplying holiday consumer goods. Refrigerated containers in Tacoma remain in deficit, but improvements were made over the previous week.
- Significant increases in 40ft containers, which typically carry retail consumer goods, are expected over the next 3 weeks in Kansas City, Charleston, and Memphis.
- Over the next 3 weeks, availability of 20ft containers is expected to increase at each of the reported locations, with the exceptions of Houston, New Orleans, Oakland, and Tacoma. Significant increases in 20ft containers are expected in Kansas City, New York, Charleston, Cincinnati, and Norfolk. Containerized grain exporters often prefer to use 20ft containers when available because they generally bring a cheaper rate from the ocean carrier and they can be filled to capacity, unlike a 40ft container when the grain often reaches the maximum weight before the container is filled.
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.