CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map China is available. gradually easing Covid lockdownsIn recent days, several areas of high trade activity have occurred in.

China’s zero Covid measures against trucking in China and the cross-city transportation restrictions continue to slow down logistics and manufacturing. This is evident in the decline in finished manufactured goods and the consequent decrease in US exports from Shanghai. The full reopening of the city isn’t expected until mid to late June.

In an effort to save time, many ocean carriers increase the frequency of their cancelled sailings. However, schedule reliability isn’t getting better. Sea Intelligence estimates that vessels arrive seven days behind schedule. Logistics managers are now faced with a difficult task when trying to plan for the future. Crane Worldwide Logistics advised clients that they should give at least three to four weeks’ notice before requesting vessel space.

Peter Sand (chief analyst at Xeneta) stated that “Congestion is continuously on the move based upon the actions American Importers seeking to circumvent the West Coast labor negotiation.” The U.S. East Coast ports have been moving record-high amounts of imports, congested facilities and this has caused them to be at a disadvantage. Spot prices may be down but they still remain high. “Long-term contract rates are up by 150% annually, which is a record.”

This surge in container traffic comes at an important time for West Coast ports. According to reports, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association are expected to resume labor negotiations after a brief break.

Historically, logistics costs were passed on to the shipper and then onto the customer. Inflationary pressures also come from fuel surcharges.

European exporters have a shrinking supply of export containers, and there is concern about strikes at Hamburg’s Port of Hamburg. Andreas Braun was the EMEA ocean freight product manager at Crane Worldwide Logistics.

“The threat of a strike by the Hamburg Terminal Operator’s Union is slowing down the port,” said Braun. The vessels are waiting in the German bay to discharge at Hamburg. We expect more problems in Germany’s ports as the coordination between intermodal and terminal operators gets worse.

Braun explained that congestion in China will worsen and more containers will be available when the China backlog has been cleared. Braun also stated that there are already problems for shipping lines planning exports on the basis of containers arriving on the import side.

The disruptions also affect rail freight services. According to the German port, “Limited Train Operations will continue until further Notice.”

According to Bethann Roooney, the Port of New York’s director, the surge will begin approximately 6-8 weeks following the China reopening.

She stated that import containers from China account for 29.6%, which is less than the China market share at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and combined Ports. The surge in imports will become very challenging if we cannot reduce long-dwelling empties and import containers within the next few weeks. 

All East Coast ports have seen an increase in vessel traffic. CNBC reported that officials from Savannah’s Port of Savannah said they were seeing more vessels than scheduled and are anticipating record volumes for this month.

Alex Charvalias from MarineTraffic, the lead for supply chain in transit visibility at MarineTraffic said that “Savannah has seen significant congestion.” “The situation has worsened. The turnaround time for shippers could reach as high as 10 days.

The CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map data providers are global freight booking platform Freightos, creator of the Freightos Baltic Dry Index; logistics provider OL USA; supply-chain intelligence platform FreightWaves; supply chain platform Blume Global; third party logistics provider Orient Star Group; marine analytics firm MarineTraffic; maritime visibility data company Project44; maritime transport data company MDS Transmodal UK; ocean and air freight benchmarking an analytics firm Xeneta; leading provider of Research & Analysis firm Sea-Intelligence ApS; Crane Worldwide Logistics, and air and freight logistics provider SEKO Logistics.

Gabriel Cortes, CNBC Contributor to This Article