Week 39: Regional Updates
Australia – Sydney Waterfront Strike – Although Sydney is not a port we typically use for wine shipments, strikes at Sydney may cause ripple down effects on Australian/NZ shipments. For the moment, the strikes have stopped, and operations resumed. The
two sides now have until November to reach a binding agreement.
North Europe to USA – volume capacity on this trade has been tight since July and current blank sailing programs (cancelled sailings) will continue through the last quarter. This will put carriers in the advantage to increase rates for peak season and advance booking is still strongly recommended.
South Europe / Mediterranean to USA – vessel space is full with 7% less capacity on this trade since last year, but blank/cancelled sailings are expected to decline moving forward and bring some improvement.
South Africa: Shipments at Cape Town continue to experience delays due to terminal operations slowdown over COVID-19 (labor and cleaning closures). Vessels are queuing outside the port region awaiting berthing space, and some carriers are starting to omit port calls.
