This fireside chat recap is from Day 1 of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: 3 curveballs to watch out for in global trade
DETAILS: A look back at global shipping in 2021 and a discussion on what lies ahead this year.
INTERVIEWER AND SPEAKER: Kevin Hill, executive publisher at FreightWaves, and Lars Jensen, CEO and partner at Vespucci Maritime.
BIO: Jensen has 20 years of experience as an insider in the container shipping industry. Prior to his current role as an independent analyst and consultant, he ran market intelligence and analysis at Maersk Line, Maersk Logistics and The Containership Co. Jensen co-founded Sea-Intelligence in 2011 and founded SeaIntelligence Consulting in 2013, which changed its name to Vespucci last year.
KEY QUOTES FROM JENSEN:
On the start to 2022: “There was a slight alleviation after Golden Week and then it has just been progressively worse. Not just in the U.S. but in Europe as well. Port congestion has only been going in one direction over the last three months — that is steadily upwards.”
On conditions in Europe: “You don’t see the same massive lines of vessels that you see outside Los Angeles-Long Beach but I think that is more a reflection of the fact that LA/LB is one of the only places in the world where you have that much cargo going into essentially one port complex. Whereas in Europe, and even on the U.S. East Coast, that’s spread out over more different ports … but the fundamental effect unfortunately is the same.”
On China’s zero-tolerance COVID policy: “China is still pursuing that same policy. At the same time, we now have a spread of a much more contagious variant … there is a very high risk that we will see more supply chain disruptions from China simply because of this.”
Click for more FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden.
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