Dramatic situation at terminals hits shippers

25 February 2025

There has been a sharp decline in handling and processing at container terminals in Rotterdam in recent weeks. Congestion is taking on extreme proportions and is starting to affect other European ports as a result. What’s more, strikes and work stoppages are still a daily occurrence – unfortunately. Any short-term improvement seems impossible. This article tells you about the latest state of play and explains the implications for you as a shipper.

What is going on?

As you are aware, the situation at the Rotterdam terminals, as well as the rest of the northern European ports, is very worrying right now. The unforeseen terminal system outages and, in recent weeks, the added ongoing strikes and work stoppages at APM Terminals & Hutchison Ports (unfortunately still a daily occurrence) are absolutely not helping the situation. It goes without saying that the addition of wintry weather conditions and persistent staff shortages in our sector have an impact on overall handling and processing too.

Also, more and more vessels with higher load factors have been put into service in recent years. This seemingly excellent development means that handling and processing these ‘container giants’ requires much more time than before. This puts pressure on the available manpower and capacity at terminals, of course. As a rough guide: whereas average handing used to take around 48 hours, ships now easily sit idle for about 5 to 6 days.

Extreme number of rotation changes

As well as the problems surrounding congestion, the many unforeseen rotation changes (also called Changes of Destination) are throwing an extra spanner in the works. Lately, shipping companies are frequently choosing to avoid the congestion in Rotterdam ports. They do this by diverting ships to other ports, often at the last minute. The logical result is extra pressure and congestion at other European ports such as Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, London, and Hamburg.

Of course, the added delays this causes are no joke either. In the event of a rotation change, the extra transit time could quickly amount to a week, provided the cargo remains on board. In some cases, containers are even unloaded at a different port and only collected and prepared for transport to Rotterdam at a later stage.

Direct implications for you as a shipper

Waiting times for unloading full containers and reloading empty containers are currently as long as 3 hours a time (on average!). Unfortunately, this also has a direct and unavoidable effect on your deliveries, limited free days for demurrage, and handling of goods in warehouses. To our regret, we have to admit that the otherwise high service level you’ve come to expect from us is significantly affected by this.

As a result, our partners – including transport companies and warehouses – are also facing these problems. Whereas transporters (and us) would have to deal with extra waiting times about twice a month before, this is now an issue that rears up several times a day. We hope you understand that we are currently in a very difficult situation where neither we, nor our carriers, can take on these additional costs anymore. If the situation escalates even further, we will have to pass on all or part of these costs to shippers in specific cases. We ask for your understanding in this matter.

Questions?

It goes without saying that our Operations team is keeping a very close eye on developments and will keep you updated on your shipment, daily if necessary. If you still have questions after reading this article, please get in touch with your sales contact. For all the latest news, you can also sign up for free to our monthly newsletter.