SIMIC

The analysis showed that on the Asia-North America West Coast, deployed capacity is scheduled to be higher in nearly all of the post-CNY weeks in 2022, with some weeks reaching an excess of 100,000 TEU over the 2017-2019 average.

"The 2017-2019 average weekly capacity for those 12 weeks was 287,000 TEU, whereas in 2021, this figure jumped to 302,700 TEU," according to Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence.

"Now imagine that in 2022, this figure is scheduled to increase by another 60,000 TEU per week, to a new peak of 363,900 TEU. With no slowdown in deployed capacity during CNY in 2022, this high level of average weekly capacity in the 12 weeks that follows will put even more stress on the West Coast ports."

Mr Murphy pointed out that there is a similar trend on Asia-North America East Coast, with the figure increasing from 163,000 TEU in 2021 to 228,300 TEU in 2022, and on Asia-North Europe, with the figure increasing from 272,000 TEU to 324,500 TEU. Asia-Mediterranean was the only trade lane out of the four to stay in line with historical trends.

In terms of growth, 2022 will see capacity growth on Asia-North America East Coast of a staggering 40.1 per cent, increasing the likelihood that the East Coast ports will also start to feel the stress of additional cargo.