Customer circular SIS Seafreight – April 2025

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We would like to give you a further insight into current developments and their impact on the global seafreight market.

Ship delays / Port congestion / Streiks

In recent weeks, the general situation at northern European ports such as Rotterdam / Antwerp / Hamburg has deteriorated increasingly and is causing major challenges in the global supply chain. Due to the formation of new shipping company alliances, routes and port calls have been revised and the ships deployed have been repositioned. The numerous route adjustments and schedule changes made by the shipping companies have led to port congestion, resulting in short-term delays in departure (ETD) and arrival times (ETA) for all shipping companies. Shipping companies often decide at short notice to skip the originally planned ports of call (port omit) due to persistent port congestion and/or to unload and temporarily store the containers at another port in advance. The unloaded and temporarily stored containers are reloaded onto an alternative feeder ship by the shipping company and transported on to the originally planned port, which leads to further, sometimes considerable, delays. These projects are decided by the shipping companies on their own authority and carried out without prior lead time, meaning that advance planning is rarely possible. In recent weeks, there have also been warning strikes in Hamburg and other European ports, which have also significantly delayed ship handling.

Pre- and oncarriage situation

Port congestion and the associated delays pose considerable challenges for pre- and onward carriage. Every day, there are longer waiting times for containers to be picked up or accepted by barge, rail or truck. The short-term ship delays mean that pre- and on-carriage capacities have to be rescheduled elsewhere, which is often not possible in some cases due to the prescribed terminal slot booking procedure. As a result of all these factors, there are considerable backlogs at the terminals in the port areas every day, and the first companies are already charging a temporary “congestion fee” for pre- and on-carriage.

We understand that the situation remains challenging and would like to assure you that we will continue to stay in close contact with you in order to transport your freight as efficiently as possible.

Your known contacts at Schäfer&SIS Interlogistik will continue to keep you closely informed about relevant developments and will be available to you at any time.

We thank you for your trust and cooperation and will keep you informed about further developments.

Best regards,