Shipping Crisis Update January 2022 Week 3

Last week, the shipping giant Maersk published a notice on their website where they explained their struggle to move goods around the world. According to them, they had hoped for the congestion to ease much earlier than the current situation shows. Due to this, the delivery of goods is taking longer than they had initially estimated.

Indeed, as a new COVID-19 outbreak sweeps across Europe and most of the world, it's hard to see a resolution for the global shipping crisis any time soon. Increased restriction in key regions has impacted Maersk's ability to move cargo, and while they are doing their best to accommodate the shifting global climate, the port of Antwerp's waiting time increases by the day.

For now, it looks like the shipping crisis will definitely continue for the next few months, maybe consuming the entire 2022. Due to the spike in cases, there's a limited number of people available to do work too, and most ports across the globe are either closed or working at half capacity.

An increased number of ships are waiting to enter ports to unload their containers, limiting the number of vessels and empty containers to use again as well. Freight rates have already started to go up again. We will update you as the situation progresses.