First Weekly "Transpacific Shipping Container Availability Report" Released
The Agricultural Marketing Service announced the availability of its first “Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report” for westbound transpacific trade lanes at 18 intermodal locations in the U.S.1. The report, to be released weekly, contains data on container availability for westbound transpacific traffic from the 10 member carriers of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA)2, which determine container availability by comparing current supplies at each of the 18 intermodal locations with the demand for these containers based on up-to-date bookings or reservation information in the westbound transpacific trade lane. Although the report is compiled by AMS, it covers container availability for all merchandise, not just agricultural products.
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Weekly Estimates for Next 3 Weeks on 5 Types of Containers; Includes Maps, Tables
Estimates are available for the current week, as well as the subsequent two weeks, for each of the following five types of shipping containers: 20ft dry, 40ft dry, 40ft high-cube (HC), 20ft reefer, and 40ft reefer. The report has tables for each intermodal location showing availability of each type of shipping container from each carrier (carriers are anonymous).
Highlights of the report for the week of July 11-17 include:
- On average, over the next 3 weeks the ports of Long Beach, New York, and Oakland are expected to have the most containers available among the 18 locations reported. Availability at Long Beach and New York is expected to increase during the next 3 weeks.
- Among the inland locations reported, Dallas and Chicago are expected to have the most containers available over the next 3 weeks. Availability is estimated to increase each week, particularly for 20ft containers in Chicago and 40ft high-cube containers in Dallas.
- At more than half of the locations reported, the increase in availability for 40ft high-cube containers over the next 3 weeks was larger than each of the other 4 container types.
- Refrigerated (reefer) containers are in biggest supply in Long Beach, New York, Oakland, and Seattle, and, to a lesser extent, in Savannah and Houston.
- Dry 40ft containers are in biggest supply in Long Beach, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Oakland, and Memphis this week. Availability of 40ft containers is reportedly the lowest in Savannah, Houston, and Columbus.
- The biggest increase in availability over the next 3 weeks is expected in Oakland for 20ft refrigerated containers and in Seattle for 20ft dry containers. The biggest decreases in availability were reported for 40ft high cube containers in Savannah and Oakland, as well as 40ft standard containers in Seattle.
1The 18 intermodal locations included in the report are Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, Denver, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Memphis, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah.
2These carriers are APL, COSCO, Evergreen, Hanjin Shipping, Hapag Lloyd, Yang Ming Transport Corporation, OOCL, NYK Line, K Line, and Hyundai Merchant Marine.
AMS press release on the release of the first shipping container report available here.