Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Dec. 19-25
The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Dec. 19-25. 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.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
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. 19-25 include:
Ports: 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 New York rose this week compared with the previous week; but availability estimates in Norfolk, Los Angeles/Long Beach, and Savannah fell. Availability at each of these locations is expected to increase over the next three weeks, with the exception of refrigerated equipment in Norfolk and 40ft dry containers and 20ft refrigerated containers in Savannah.
Inland Locations: Among the reported inland locations, Chicago, Dallas, and Memphis are expected to have the most containers available over the next three weeks. Chicago and Dallas both saw increases over the previous week’s estimates; Memphis availability fell slightly compared with the previous week. Availability is estimated to increase each week for all container types except for refrigerated containers in Chicago and 40ft dry containers in Memphis.
Equipment: Overall availability for each reported container type was down this week with the exception of 40ft refrigerated containers, which saw a modest increase.
- Increases in Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York helped with higher availability of 40ft reefers this week. The participating carriers report more than 7,000 20ft containers available each at Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York and Chicago. Increases in 40ft equipment in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Houston, and New Orleans could not be offset by decreases in Los Angeles/Long Beach, Savannah, Tacoma, and Charleston.
- Over the next three weeks significant increases in 40ft high-cube containers are expected in Charleston, Cincinnati, Chicago, Columbus, and Norfolk.
- Kansas City is also expected to have strong increases for 20ft and 40ft dry containers.
- Availability in Minneapolis, New Orleans, Oakland, and Tacoma is expected to be down for all containers types.
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.