On Monday morning, 24 container ships—with a combined maximum carrying capacity nearly 10 times that of the newly freed ship—were anchored off the coast waiting for space at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which keeps tabs on vessels and directs ship traffic.

The ships are carrying tens of thousands of boxes holding millions of dollars’ worth of washing machines, medical equipment, consumer electronics and other of the goods that make up global ocean trade, all of it idling in the waters in sight of docks that are jammed with still more containers.

One was on its 12th day of waiting in the seemingly unending queue. And the vessels keep coming.

Backups started building late last year as retailers and manufacturers tried to rebuild inventories that were depleted in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.

A stark difference can be seen comparing the movements of container ships around the ports in February of 2020 with February 2021, according to location data from shipping tracker Marine Traffic.

The two ports together handle more than a third of U.S. container imports, and delays there are part of a global supply-chain mess that continues even after the ships are unloaded. In January, more than a quarter of imported containers at those gateways had to wait more than five days for handling once they reached the dock, according to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. In June 2020, before the logjam, about 2% had to wait that long.

U.S. imports from international trading partners picked up as coronavirus restrictions eased and demand rebounded in the summer of 2020. The U.S. imported a record $219.86 billion in goods in January of this year on a seasonally adjusted basis, about 9% higher than a year earlier.

“Under normal conditions, container ships rarely anchor,” said Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California. On Feb. 1 at noon, 40 were anchored offshore. The number has dipped since.

The number of container ships at a berth loading or discharging containers fluctuated between roughly 10 and 20 throughout 2019 and into 2020, which is normal, according to Capt. Louttit. It fluctuated between roughly 20 and 30 from late 2020 into March of this year. “The ports are setting records moving cargo,” he said.

The sudden uptick in shipments last year after a lull in the spring and summer “shocked and choked the goods movement system,” Capt. Louttit said. The extra ships arrived when the system was operating at reduced capacity and efficiency, a bottleneck partly due to transportation and logistics personnel being off the job because of Covid-19 infections and exposure, he said.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to work through the backlog as the number of ships arriving continues to rise. In February of this year, 177 container ships and more than 800,000 containers (in 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs) arrived at the ports. That’s 31% more ships and 49% more containers than the same month last year.

Seaborne imports into the U.S. have been building for months, starting with a surge in shipments of consumer goods as far back as August, according to Chris Rogers, supply-chain analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence Panjiva.

“The goods where we have seen the fastest growth in shipments are those that take up a lot of space on container ships relative to their value, with the result that the growth in volume of trade has been faster than the growth in value of trade,” Mr. Rogers said.

The supply-chain analyst cited marked increases in containers of furniture, home appliances, large consumer electronics, medical supplies and home and personal-care products.

The disruptions show how vulnerable supply chains are, and why it has been so challenging for many U.S. businesses to rebound a year after the pandemic’s onset even as the economy begins to recover.
Source: Wall Street Journal

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The six high-quality 15,500 TEU containerships will be scrubber-fitted and include industry-leading emissions reduction technologies. Upon completion, the Vessels will enter long-term charters with leading global liner customers.

Bing Chen, Chairman, president and ceo of Seaspan, commented, “Our creative customer partnerships continue to drive best-in-class solutions for our customers and quality growth for our shareholders. The depth of expertise and industry-leading execution of our Atlas and Seaspan teams combine to offer our customers unmatched capabilities by providing consistently differentiated services, operational excellence and high-value win-win solutions. I am proud of Seaspan’s strong commitment to leading the industry by leveraging our fully integrated platform, broad scale, flexibility and determination to be the best-in-class business solution provider to our liner customers.”

The vessels are anticipated to be financed from additional borrowings as well as cash on hand. As of December 31, 2020, Seaspan’s global fleet consisted of 127 vessels and approximately 1,073,200 TEU. Beginning in December 2020, and along with the six vessels announced today, Seaspan has announced the addition of a total of 580,000 TEU represented by 39 vessels, including 37 newbuild vessels, and the acquisition of two vessels in the secondary markets, increasing total capacity to 1,653,200 TEU, on fully delivered basis. These vessels will continue to expand upon Seaspan’s core strategic size category of approximately 10,000 to 15,000 TEU.

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A containership, CMA CGM Scandola, was fuelled with 7,100m³ of LNG from FueLNG Bellina, Singapore’s first LNG bunkering vessel.

Senior Minister of State for Transport and Foreign Affairs, Mr Chee Hong Tat, commented: “The use of more sustainable fuels is an important element of the decarbonisation strategy. As the shipping industry explores alternative zero-carbon fuels, LNG is a viable transitional fuel. As a global bunkering hub, we are pleased to partner CMA CGM, FueLNG, Keppel Offshore & Marine and Shell Eastern Petroleum, to provide more sustainable bunkering solutions for the shipping industry. It also marks another major milestone as Asia’s first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation with simultaneous cargo operations.”

CMA CGM Scandola is the first of six new 15,000-TEU LNG-powered containerships which CMA CGM Group has lined-up to be bunkered in Singapore this year. These ships will be deployed on CMA CGM’s MEX 1 service between Asia and the Mediterranean.

It is also the first vessel in Asia to conduct simultaneous container loading and discharging operations alongside LNG bunkering operations, shortening port stay time. From Singapore, she will set sail with over 14,800 (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers, comprising household goods, electronic items, machinery and personal protection equipment for the Mediterranean.

This is also the first ship-to-ship operation for FueLNG Bellina. Designed and built by Keppel O&M, the 7,500m³ FueLNG Bellina provides more options for shipowners and operators to bunker LNG in Singapore. FueLNG aims to provide a total of about 30 to 50 ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operations in 2021, extending its track record of over 300 truck-to-ship LNG bunkering operations so far.

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Rodolphe Saadé made the announcement at the opening session of TPM, the premiere conference for the trans-Pacific and global container shipping and logistics community.

The first of these new vessels will be delivered in October 2021, and all ships will be fully operational by the end of 2022. The six 15,000-TEU vessels will be deployed on CMA CGM’s Pearl River Express (PRX) line, which sails from China to the Port of Los Angeles. The CMA CGM Group is currently operating 12 LNG-powered containerships, a fleet that will grow to 32 containerships of various sizes by 2022. This technology is one of the first steps towards achieving CMA CGM Group’s ambitious 2050 objective of carbon neutrality.

As a customer-centric Group, CMA CGM is sharing its energy transition solutions for shipping and providing its customers with effective solutions with these six 15,000-TEU LNG-powered vessels. American customers will be able to choose to transport their goods using LNG, a new technology that helps to preserve air quality by eliminating almost all atmospheric pollutants.

Recently, the Group also introduced ACT with CMA CGM+, a set of services designed to allow customers to analyse, reduce and offset their environmental impact. CMA CGM will continue to incorporate the latest advanced technologies to serve the needs of its customers, in the U.S. and globally, while ensuring every aspect of its business is operating in the most sustainable way possible.

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