No longer pressure on supply chains

Danish Ports

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Container traffic is flowing again without pressure after three years of pandemic and port closures, not least in some of the world's largest Chinese ports. No Danish ports have been closed as a result of Corona. Photo: Port of Aalborg.

New figures show that after the Suez blockage and Corona lockdowns in the years 2020-2022, supply chains in the world are now functioning normally

From the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic created all kinds of obstacles to the movement of goods and container ports around the world were hit by delays. At one point, dozens of ships were anchored off the California coast because the pressure on US West Coast ports was too great.

According to Mobilitywatch, based on new figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the March 2023 index shows that the pressure on global supply chains has completely disappeared.

The March 2023 index is minus 1.06 and is the lowest measured since 1989. At the peak of the supply chain crisis in December 2021, the index was 4.31. A 0 marks the historical average, so the fluctuations have been large in the last three years of the supply chain crisis.

On Easter Sunday, the major west coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in the United States saw short-term strikes as part of the almost year-long dispute over a new collective agreement for dockworkers. However, the strikes largely did not affect container traffic, as there were relatively few container units. Only one ship was delayed.

However, according to Shippingwatch on Linkedin, shipping analyst Lars Jensen, founder of the consultancy Vespucci Maritime, says that the US West Coast ports are currently like watching a train wreck in slow motion and that "Ever since the old contract failed to be renewed in mid-2022, the spectrum of labor disruptions on the US West Coast has been a constant risk factor."