Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Nov. 21-27

November 23, 2012 by Brian Feito|Transport

The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Nov. 21-27. 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 Nov. 21-27 include:

Overall, the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Norfolk, and Houston are expected to have the most available containers among the reported port locations over the next three weeks. Container availability estimates in Norfolk, and Houston fell this week compared with the previous week. Availability estimates in Los Angeles/Long Beach 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 and New York. However, dry containers are expected to decrease in Houston, as well as 40ft reefers 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 Chicago took a significant fall this week allowing Dallas to jump ahead 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 and 40ft refrigerated containers in Memphis.
Availability of overall dry containers fell this week in Tacoma, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Chicago likely due to the peak grain harvest season underway. These locations are regularly used for containerized grain exports moved in 20ft and 40ft equipment.
At the port locations and over the next three weeks, 40ft containers are in greatest supply in Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Charleston, and Norfolk. Similarly, at the inland locations, Dallas is estimated to have the greatest supply of forties, followed by Chicago, and Memphis over the next three weeks. In terms of 20ft containers, Chicago is estimated to have the most available containers over the next three weeks at reported inland locations, followed by Dallas, Columbus, and Kansas City. At port locations, Los Angeles/Long Beach will reportedly have the greatest supply followed by New York, Norfolk, Oakland, and Savannah.
Container availability estimates for 20ft dry containers are higher at more than half of the reported inland locations than 40ft container availability estimates including Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Kansas City, and Minneapolis.

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.