Warning! The delivery of the goods will be delayed again! One-third of Asian flights could be cancel

According to the latest report of US Supply chain platform Project44

The alliance of shipping lines is preparing to cancel more than a third of its Asian routes in the coming weeks in response to reduced export freight rates

To mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown

The blank route strategy will further extend delivery times especially to Northern Europe

Between weeks 17 and 23, THE Alliance will cancel 33 per cent of its scheduled Asian flights, Ocean Alliance will cancel 37 per cent and 2M Alliance will cancel 39 per cent of its first trips, according to Supply Chain Platform.

MSC said on Friday that a voyage scheduled for early June by Mathilde Maersk on its Silk and Maersk AE10 Asia-Northern Europe routes would be cancelled "due to the current challenging market conditions". In Northern Europe, the Silk/AE10 service stops in Rotterdam, Bremerhaven and Gdansk.

Project44 said that after previously falling behind the other two alliances in terms of invalid sailings, "2M will cancel more sailings in the coming weeks than any other alliance".

In terms of port congestion, Project44 data showed that inbound stay times at The Port of Shanghai peaked at nearly 16 days at the end of April, while outbound stay times remained "relatively stable at around three days". The import dwell time is due to the lack of truck drivers to carry unloaded containers. Similarly, a significant reduction in export volumes to the port means fewer containers can be shipped out of Shanghai, reducing the duration of export stays." Still, shipping companies have managed to unload empty containers in Shanghai, preparing for a surge in cargo as the rigorously enforced coronavirus lockdown ends.

Maersk's latest report said the density of Shanghai's refrigerated yards had increased significantly, adding: "We will resume taking bookings from Shanghai and the first shipment will arrive from June 26." Maersk said warehouse operations in Shanghai had "partially resumed" and that while the ningbo warehouse was "temporarily open", it was subject to strict quarantine regulations. "If the driver has traveled to a medium-high risk area in the past 14 days, the shipment will not be accepted," it warned.

Meanwhile, cargo delivery times from Asia to Northern Europe continued to increase, with the UK being the most affected by shipowners' port rationalisation strategies. According to Project44, delivery times from China to Northern Europe and the UK have increased by 20 per cent and 27 per cent respectively in the past 12 months. During this period, freight forwarders from the UK complained that Southampton and London gateway cargo was "routinely dumped at other ports on the continent without any proper container transfer scheme". Other freight forwarders attacked the shipping company's service, saying two containers arriving on the same ship from Asia were delayed at different European ports for more than a month.