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Ports overloaded worldwide - consequence of pandemic and war

2022-05-09T23:23:55.485Z


The ship jam in Shanghai alone is likely to continue for months: the large commercial ports are overloaded by the pandemic and the consequences of the war. The sheer size of modern container ships is also problematic.


Enlarge image

Container ship on the way to the port of Hamburg (archive image)

Photo: Christina Sabrowsky / picture alliance / dpa

The effects of the two major crises of the past few years are also being felt at sea.

Due to the pandemic and the Ukraine war, the major international trading ports around the world are currently overloaded.

This was reported by the industrial insurer AGCS, which belongs to Allianz, on Tuesday.

The war has exacerbated the delivery problems caused by the pandemic, the congestion in ports and also the problems in recruiting ships' crews, the experts write in the new edition of their annual analysis of shipping risks.

In the world's largest port of Shanghai alone, a return to normal operations after the current corona lockdown could take months, as AGCS risk advisor Anastasios Leonburg said.

"I don't think this will be solved quickly in the near future." It is difficult to make a forecast because it depends on both the measures taken by the Chinese authorities and the development of the pandemic in China.

According to the Allianz assessment, the freight capacities in merchant shipping are too scarce overall.

That's why major international shipping companies ordered 7.5 million new containers, Leonburg said.

"You have to build a lot more containers, which then come into circulation."

Insurance takes effect after six to twelve months

Ships have already been lost in the Black Sea, others are stuck in ports in Ukraine, it said.

Ships have their own war insurance, which, unlike hull insurance, steps in if ships have to be lost.

After a fixed waiting period of six to twelve months, ships that can no longer leave the ports can be declared a total loss.

Apart from the delivery problems, the experts see further risks for shipping, mostly of a technical nature.

The number of total losses has more than halved over the past ten years, said Justus Heinrich, head of AGCS ship insurance in Central Europe.

In 2012 there were still 127 sunken or irreparably damaged ships and last year only 54.

But as container ships get bigger, if there's a fire on board, they often can't find a port to call at, Leonburg said.

Last year, the freighter X-Press Pearl, sailing under the Singaporean flag, sank off the coast of Sri Lanka after a fire that lasted almost two weeks.

Dangerous goods in many containers

According to AGCS estimates, undeclared dangerous goods are secretly transported in around five percent of all containers shipped worldwide.

In the past five years, more than 70 fires have broken out on container ships.

This is not just a concern for insurance companies: "We are also concerned about the increasing number of fires on freighters, especially container ships and car transporters," said Christian Naegeli, safety officer at the Association of German Shipowners.

In the case of false declarations of dangerous cargo on board, the shippers are asked to urgently correct them.

The shipowners also emphasized that shipping is becoming safer and safer.

"Although there are more and more merchant ships and although there are also more and more very large container ships, the number of serious accidents has been falling continuously for years," said Managing Director Martin Kröger.

jok/dpa

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2022-05-09

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