Delivery times for shipping containers from China to Europe 2020-2022

The delivery time for shipping containers from China to Europe nearly doubled between January 2020 and January 2022. While it took about 60 days for a shipping container to be delivered from China to Europe in January 2020, due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the delivery time increased to 108 days in January 2022. In March 2022, shipping containers from China to Europe took some 116 days.

Current disruptions in maritime freight

Maritime logistics have been dealing with the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, China's zero-Covid policy and the following lockdowns in the major port cities worsened the congestion in Chinese ports. From February to April 2022, the number of container vessels waiting outside Chinese ports almost doubled, reaching 260 to 506 ships. Therewithal, Dockworker's strikes for high wages in Northern European Ports deepen existing logistical bottlenecks in ocean freight between China and Europe.

Soaring freight prices

From January 2019 to February 2022, global container fleet capacity losses were dramatic. Unutilized fleet capacity escalated from 2.8% to 11.6% within two years. Even though carrier companies have been trying to increase the number of containers sent to the ocean, this did not solve the low capacity utilization due to port congestion. The lack of adequate dockers causes the containers to be stuck at the ports, which delays transferring them back to their origin. As a result of a limited number of available containers and duck workers, the cost of shipping containerized freight from China to Europe soared immensely from 1,100 points to 4,700 points between January 2019 to August 2022.