Over the past few weeks, the situation at the seaports of Rotterdam and Antwerp has significantly worsened. In addition to the ongoing issues with delays in ocean vessel arrivals, further structural changes have added to the challenges. New shipping alliances and shifts in service areas have led to major disruptions in operational processes. Many seaport terminals report that they have already reached their capacity limits, and productivity at the terminals has declined significantly.
This resulting decline in performance has led to long waiting times and, in some cases, the complete breakdown of reliable operational planning. Waiting times for inland container vessels have recently increased again to levels that are no longer sustainable. At times, our inland vessels are experiencing waiting times of up to five days at the terminals. Due to the heavily restricted terminal capacities, we do not anticipate any notable improvements in the coming weeks or months.
All of this puts immense pressure on the entire supply chain, and the delivery and pick-up schedules for containers at the seaports are being heavily impacted. Ultimately, this development leads to increased capacity strain and additional costs at our inland terminals as well: containers, ready for transport to the seaport must sometimes remain at the inland terminal or be unloaded again because access to the seaports has changed once more.
All these factors make reliable planning for container deliveries and collections nearly impossible. The cost pressure on our transport services to the seaports has increased enormously due to operational delays, and the additional administrative workload for our customer service teams has multiplied. We kindly ask for your understanding that we cannot accept liability for any costs incurred due to delayed pick-up of containers (demurrage and/or detention) or for delays in export container deliveries.
In order to continue maintaining the departure frequency of our inland vessels for you, we are left with no other short- or medium-term option than to deploy additional vessel capacity. To help cover the considerable additional costs, we are unfortunately forced to pass on at least part of the cost increase to our customers. For this reason, the existing congestion surcharge will be increased from the current €15.00 to €28.00 per container/per direction, effective April 22, 2025, until further notice.
At the same time, we are working intensively to stabilize our operational system despite these disruptions. Contargo is in close coordination with port operators and seaport terminals, with the shared goal of improving turnaround times at the seaports as quickly as possible.