Shipping Disruption Watch: Shanghai and Los Angeles/Long Beach and 1 more
Asian port congestion and Golden Week blanks threaten Shanghai-origin transpacific cargo with weeks of slippage
Checked Shanghai (Yangshan/Waigaoqiao complex), Los Angeles/Long Beach (San Pedro Bay), Laredo, Maersk, COSCO, Hapag-Lloyd, Asia–US West Coast and North Europe–US East Coast; most items rest on trade press or carrier claims relayed by it. Laredo, COSCO and canal notices produced nothing new in the window; the CBP wait-time pages and carrier advisory sites were not opened directly.
The 30-second version
Asia congestion ties up ~8.5% of global fleet; Sea-Intelligence sees 7–10 months to normalise (Oct 4 report).
Hapag-Lloyd omits WC2 Shanghai, US2 Ningbo and AA7 Ningbo sailings during Golden Week (Oct 5, trade press).
Watch: Port of LA scheduled imports jump 56% in week of Oct 11; LA currently fluid.
01Shanghai · Oct 4
Asia port congestion ties up 8.5% of fleet, delaying Shanghai-origin cargo
Sea-Intelligence data, cited by analyst Sam Chambers in The Manila Times on Oct 4, says congestion at major Asian container ports is tying up about 8.5% of the global containership fleet, roughly 3 million TEU of capacity. Sea-Intelligence estimates 7–10 months for congestion to return to June 2025 levels (basis: recovery patterns after Covid and the first Red Sea crisis); a return to end-2025 conditions could take 6–8 months. This is trade-press reporting of analyst estimates, not a port notice.
Separately, Bastille Post (Oct 3, relayed by sourcing.center on Oct 4) reports Yangshan is running round the clock through Golden Week (Oct 1–7): 32,500 TEU handled on Oct 1 against a 31,500 plan, with 40 quay cranes on duty on Oct 2. The gateway is open, but carrier blanks and inland handover can still miss cutoffs. Asia–US rates were described as near pandemic-era levels (Xeneta, per the same article).
Action: Confirm named-voyage ETDs and cutoffs with forwarders for Shanghai bookings, and add roughly 1–2 weeks of buffer stock on Asia–US West Coast lines (estimate, not sourced).
Hapag-Lloyd omits three Far East–North America Golden Week sailings
Per Container News, republished by Infomarine on Oct 5, Hapag-Lloyd will not offer the WC2 sailing of Guthorm Maersk (voyage 640E) from Shanghai, will omit US2 voyage 641E (Navios Unison) from Ningbo with alternative coverage on its US1 service, and will not offer the AA7 sailing of Wan Hai A13 from Ningbo. For WC2, the Xingang–Qingdao–Pusan rotation stays in place. This is a carrier announcement relayed by trade press; the Hapag-Lloyd advisory itself was not opened.
Delay for affected cargo is a rollover to the next sailing on each service; on a weekly string that is roughly 5–9 days (estimate, basis: weekly service interval, not stated by the carrier). Maersk's separately published Golden Week blanks (Transpacific TP8 and TP12 eastbound, proforma Oct 9; AE1 Shanghai ETD Oct 10) are older, carrier-published items dated Aug–Sep and not new in this window.
Action: Check Hapag-Lloyd Shanghai and Ningbo bookings on WC2, US2 and AA7 voyages now and rebook onto US1 or alternate carriers before cutoffs.
Port of LA import volume set to jump 56% in week of Oct 11
Port Optimizer data (retrieved 8:00 AM PT Oct 4, via Arrowlink) shows Los Angeles currently fluid: 15 vessels at berth, 3.4-day average truck dwell (30-day) and 72.2% of imports on terminal for 4 days or less. Scheduled imports are 111,165 TEU (22 vessels) for Oct 4–10, then 173,552 TEU (27 vessels) for Oct 11–17, up 56.12% week on week.
A Waybill Wire piece of Oct 2 describes the port as busy but free of congestion. Whether the Oct 11–17 surge, likely bunched by Asian delays, causes queues or longer dwell is unconfirmed, so this is a Watch item, not an active disruption. No Long Beach or Laredo data was confirmed in the window.
Action: Pre-book drayage and chassis for Oct 11–17 arrivals at San Pedro Bay and plan for a possible 1–3 extra days of dwell (estimate, historical precedent).