“To give you a sense of the demand right now, we are turning away — each week — more cargo than we are carrying,” revealed Matson CEO Matt Cox, referring to the scramble for slots on his company’s two China-U.S. services.
During a conference call with analysts Monday after market close, Cox provided a frontline view of the torrid bookings, import drivers and tightening bottlenecks on the trans-Pacific container trade.
“This could end in a few weeks or it could continue all the way into February to the [Chinese] Lunar New Year. Nobody really knows exactly how and when this will end,” said Cox.
There are rising fears of a so-called “shipageddon” scenario for holiday shipments in which cargoes do not make it across the Pacific on time. Cox didn’t say anything to assuage such fears.
“In the ports, with increased volume comes increased time to offload and increased turn times at the terminals. This has had an impact on the availability of equipment. It has also led to berthing delays of vessels,” he reported, describing trucking conditions as “chaotic.”