Nike and other major U.S. importers just got another kick in the shins. The arrival of the Maersk Eureka at the Port of Long Beach, California, will be delayed by about three weeks because of a mechanical problem at sea.
The notice of the latest delay came from MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., which told customers Thursday, “Maersk has informed us that the container ship Maersk Eureka, deployed on our Sequoia service, had to stop at sea due to a damaged fuel pump.”
That occurred March 12. Two days later, according to MSC, “the vessel had to stop again to perform additional investigation. The engine remains off in order to reduce further impact.”
MSC said a tugboat carrying a service crew is scheduled to arrive at the scene Sunday. It is estimated that the repairs will not be completed until Wednesday. Weather could be a complicating factor, with MSC reporting “the vessel operator has said it is monitoring lashings as higher winds are expected in the next three to five days, with the tug remaining on standby in case of need.”
A Maersk spokesman told American Shipper the Eureka was holding its position 650 miles off Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
The customer notice pointed out that “no containers have been lost or damaged and all reefers are on power.” But because of the repairs, the Eureka is expected to be 15 to 20 days behind schedule, MSC said.
The Eureka, with a capacity of 13,092 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) departed Yokohama, Japan, on March 6. It had been scheduled to arrive at the Port of Long Beach this past Monday.
Ship arrivals at the port routinely have been delayed since an import surge that began late last summer has continued unabated and resulted in historic congestion in San Pedro Bay. There also was the case of the ONE Apus, which lost 1,816 TEUs while en route to Long Beach on Nov. 30 and turned around and returned to Japan.
On board the Eureka, according to FreightWaves maritime market expert Henry Byers, are at least 15 containers filled with Nike shoes. Other commodities inside containers include pressure washers, tires, dumbbells, luggage, computer desks, patio furniture, fuel filters and hand sanitizer.
Nike last week blamed kinks in the supply chain for an 11% year-over-year revenue decline, according to FreightWaves’ Andrew Cox.
In his Point of Sale newsletter, Cox quoted Nike Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend as saying, “Disruption in the global supply chain due to container shortages, transportation delays and port congestion has interrupted the flow of inventory supply.”
Byers said in addition to Nike, top consignees on the Eureka include JD North America, a manufacturer of equipment such as pressure washers; Sentury Tire USA; Icon Health & Fitness; AJ Wholesale Distributors, which handles everything from power tools to pet products; it Luggage, available everywhere from Amazon to Walmart; At Home Procurement, which specializes in wood furniture; Praxair, which has products that include gases as well as welding equipment; Maruchan, a maker of ramen noodles; and Woodard-CM, a producer of outdoor furniture.
MSC and Maersk are members of the 2M Alliance space-sharing cooperative. Vessels utilized for the Sequoia Asia-U.S. service, in addition to the Maersk Eureka, are the MSC Josseline, the MSC Aries and the MSC Savona. The three MSC vessels all sail directly from Shanghai to Long Beach.
Byers said other top consignees for the Sequoia service include Amazon Logistics, De Well Container Shipping, DHL Global Forwarding, Dillard’s, EGA America, Eurybia Logistics, Expeditors International, Headwin Global Logistics, Hecny Transportation, Ikea Supply, JDY International, LF Logistics, Living Spaces Furniture, OEC Shipping, Orly Shoe, Prime Agency, Ross Procurement, Scholastic Inc., Topocean Consolidation, Transgroup Global Logistics and WTO Express.
The top non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs) using the service are Apex Maritime, Danmar Lines, Expeditors, Kuehne + Nagel and Orient Express Container Line, Byers said.
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Click here for more American Shipper/FreightWaves stories by Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills.