Queues of container ships have been forming in front of German ports for months. An easing of the situation is still not in sight. On the contrary: Compared to other waiting areas, the traffic jam in the North Sea is currently "the most serious", warns the Kiel Institute for Economic Research.
According to observations by the Kiel Institute for Economic Research (IfW), the traffic jam of container ships in the German Bight is not going away - and has recently even grown again. "Supply bottlenecks and traffic jams in container shipping are becoming more and more difficult and are affecting the global exchange of goods," said IfW economist Vincent Stamer in the latest "Kiel Trade Indicator" on Tuesday. "More container ships are waiting in the German Bight than there were 14 days ago."
According to IfW calculations, around eleven percent of all goods shipped worldwide are currently stuck in traffic jams at important container ports. According to the Kiel institute, "for the first time, the traffic jam in the North Sea was the most serious" in the observed waiting areas. Well over two percent of global freight capacity is idle there and cannot be loaded or unloaded. In the German Bight alone, 19 container ships are currently waiting for their goods to be unloaded, two more than two weeks ago.
In addition, the queue in front of the US states of South Carolina and Georgia is increasing, reports IfW researcher Stamer. The important container port of Savannah is located there. "The traffic jams in front of China's ports are cyclically declining."
Because more than 90 percent of all goods worldwide are transported by ship, container shipping is a lifeline of world trade. Since the outbreak of the corona pandemic two and a half years ago, it has increasingly lost its rhythm. Every disruption, such as lockdowns in individual ports, an accident like that of the "Ever Given" in the Suez Canal or industrial disputes like the one currently taking place in the largest English container port, Felixstowe, throws additional stumbling blocks and reduces the punctuality of the ships.
