CMA CGM has joined Hapag-Lloyd and OOCL in temporarily cutting the congested US East Coast port of Savannah from its trans-Atlantic services and replacing it with a Charleston call, according to IHS Media.
The Marseille-based carrier advised customers that "severe congestion" at Savannah was resulting in delays of eight to 10 days, and "to protect schedule integrity and weekly sailing frequency," CMA CGM will switch its AMERIGO service connecting the West Mediterranean to the US East Coast to Charleston, with the first sailing affected on November 27.
Hapag-Lloyd earlier told customers its Atlantic Loop 6 (AL6) service between the Mediterranean and the US East Coast would temporarily move its call from Savannah to Charleston from November 1, while OOCL announced a six-week switch from Savannah to Charleston on its Atlantic Mediterranean Express (ATM1) string, with the first sailing impacted on November 27.
Griff Lynch, CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), said the diversions will only increase the pressure on overtaxed port trucking companies to dray containers originally destined for Savannah an additional 100 miles from Charleston into Georgia.
"The ocean carriers have the right to do what they need to do to restore their services," Mr Lynch said. "We've heard from BCOs [beneficial cargo owners], who are not happy about it. They are transferring a ship issue into a terminal and drayage issue. We are not happy about it, but there is nothing we can do."
Between 22 and 27 vessels have been anchored per day outside the Savannah harbour awaiting a berth since September 1. The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has said dwell times for import containers in the port ballooned to as much as 12 days in September.
To ease the congestion in Savannah, the port authority has urged importers in northwestern Georgia to use the Appalachian Regional Port - a GPA-operated inland port - to store import containers that can't be picked up from Garden City for longer than 21 days. The GPA is offering as much as 50 per cent off the demurrage fees billed to ocean carriers to use the inland port and has urged the carriers to pass the discounts onto importers. So far, however, only a couple importers have used this option, which Mr Lynch said was disappointing.
The GPA is also exploring whether to open four pop-up storage sites, including one property next to the inland port. However, Mr Lynch said the pop-up storage sites will not be feasible without financial support from the federal government to defray the costs involved.
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