Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Feb. 13-19
The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Feb. 13-19. 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 Feb. 13-19 include:
Ports: The ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Oakland, and Norfolk are expected to have the most available containers among the reported port locations over the next three weeks. Container availability estimates have increased from the previous week for each of these port locations except Norfolk. In fact, availability in Oakland surpassed Norfolk this week; there were significant increases for all container types in Oakland; and decreases for 40ft dry and refrigerated containers in Norfolk. Over the next three weeks, availability is expected to increase at each of these locations for all container types except for 40ft dry and refrigerated containers in Norfolk.
Inland Locations: Among the reported inland locations, Chicago, Dallas, Memphis, and Columbus are expected to have the most containers available over the next three weeks. Availability in Chicago increased this week, but fell in Dallas, Memphis, and Columbus. Availability in Chicago surpassed Dallas this week with significant increases for all container types except 40ft high-cube containers.
Equipment: Overall, availability for all container types combined was up nearly 2,000 containers this week over the previous week.
- Container availability increased this week, particularly for 20ft refrigerated containers in New York, Houston, Los Angeles/Long Beach, Chicago, and Seattle. Most locations increased this week; availability at only six of the reported locations decreased.
- Overall, 40ft high-cube container availability remains the highest this week of the five container types reported.
- Each container type saw at least a modest increase in availability this week over the previous 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.