Container congestion and spot rates are easing, at least for the moment, and the surge of container cargo cascading into the multipurpose vessel (MPV) sector has calmed, according to breakbulk industry executives. However, the so-called spillover market, driven in the short term by shippers desperate to get their cargo moved at almost any cost, may lead to longer-term changes as wary shippers reexamine their transport choices.
“The heat has definitely subsided” when it comes to fixing MPV ships to transport containers, Justin Archard, managing director of Hamburg-based One World Shipbrokers, which specializes in MPV tonnage, told JOC.com in late June. Many of the container lines that chartered MPVs to carry spillover containers in 2021 are now returning them to their owners rather than hanging on to them, he said.
A total of 147,751 TEU of containerized cargo was imported into the United States using non-container vessels during the first five months of 2022, a 104 percent increase from the same 2021 period and a 139 percent jump from pre-pandemic 2019, according to PIERS, a sister company of JOC.com within S&P Global. However, 75 percent (111,291 TEU) of these spillover containers arrived in January, February, and March, indicating that the spillover market began easing in April and May.
Source: joc.com
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