Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Dec. 5-11

December 6, 2012 by Brian Feito|Transport

The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Dec. 5-11. 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 Three Weeks on Five 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 Dec. 5-11 include:

The ILWU Office Clerical Unit and the terminal operator employers for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reached an agreement Dec. 4 to end the 8-day strike. Normal container operations have resumed at the port complex. The ILWU rank and file will vote on the new agreement before it is ratified, but union negotiators seem confident the contract will be accepted.
Overall, 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 over the next three weeks. Container availability estimates in Norfolk and Los Angeles/Long Beach fell this week compared with the previous week. Availability estimates in New York and Savannah are up over the previous week. Availability for all equipment types is expected to increase over the next three weeks in Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, and Savannah. However, refrigerated containers are expected to decrease in Norfolk.
Among the reported inland locations, Dallas, Chicago, and Memphis are expected to have the most containers available over the next three weeks. Availability in Dallas this week increased to overtake Chicago in terms of overall availability for the inland locations. Availability is estimated to increase each week for all container types except for 20ft refrigerated containers in Chicago.
Half of the reported locations experienced decreases from the previous week, including significant decreases in Houston, Tacoma, Seattle, and Minneapolis. However, other locations such as New York, Kansas City, and Memphis saw solid increases. As imports start to slow this time of year, container availability numbers will probably experience volatile changes such as these from week to 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.