Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Dec. 12-18
The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Dec. 12-18. 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
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
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. 12-18 include:
- The participating ocean carriers have updated the semiannual average weekly throughput data for each reported location. These data help readers understand the aggregate flow of containers that have moved through the 18 select locations by the participating carriers over the previous 6 months. These data are only updated every six months. See the updated map on page three of the report, as well as the updated tables on each location page. Overall, the data were lower than the previous six months reported; this is likely due to fewer participating carriers .
- 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 fell this week compared with the previous week. Availability estimates in Norfolk, Los Angeles/Long Beach, and Savannah are up over the previous week. Availability in Norfolk rose significantly this week particularly for refrigerated equipment; however, reefer availability is expected to fall over the next three weeks.
- Among the reported inland locations, Chicago, Dallas, and Memphis are expected to have the most containers available over the next three weeks. Chicago experienced a significant increase this week to overtake Dallas in terms of overall availability for the inland locations. Availability is estimated to increase each week for all container types except for refrigerated containers in Chicago and Memphis.
- More than half of the reported locations experienced increases in availability from the previous week, including significant increases in Houston, Minneapolis, and Seattle. Most other locations saw small decreases with the exception of Oakland that fell significantly from the previous week. 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.