Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report for Feb. 20-26
The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Feb. 20-26. 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. 20-26 include:
Ports: The ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Norfolk, and Oakland are expected to have the most available containers among the reported port locations over the next three weeks. Container availability estimates in Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, and Oakland have increased from the previous week, but estimates for Norfolk fell. Over the next three weeks, availability is expected to increase in New York for all container types, but the supply of 40ft dry and refrigerated containers in Norfolk, 20ft dry containers in Oakland, and 40ft refrigerated containers in Los Angeles/Long Beach are expected to decrease.
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, Memphis, and Columbus increased this week, but fell in Dallas. Over the next three weeks, significant increases in 40ft dry and refrigerated containers are expected in Memphis.
Equipment: Overall, availability for all container types combined was fairly stable this week, falling by only 114 containers compared with the previous week.
- Half of the reported locations saw decreases while the other half experienced increases this week.
- The availability of refrigerated equipment was mixed this week, with 40ft refrigerated containers increasing while 20ft refrigerated containers decreased from the previous week. Availability of 40ft reefers saw increases in Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Oakland, Houston, Seattle, and Chicago. Availability for 20ft reefers fell at ten of the reported locations.
1The 18 intermodal locations included in the report are Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Long Beach/Los Angeles, Memphis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Oakland, Savannah, Seattle and Tacoma.
2These carriers are COSCO, Evergreen, Hanjin Shipping, Hapag Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, K Line, OOCL, and Yang Ming Transportation Corp.