Monday, September 1, 2008

Big Delays At Jebel Ali

DP World may be making pots of money, but big delays at its flagship Jebel Ali operation, the UAE's largest container terminal and one of the busiest in the world, are having a ripple effect throughout the country's logistics network, leading to increased delays.

Logistics firms have been warning customers for some time of "serious berthing delays. "These have been reported to be as much as 90 hours for smaller feeder vessels, but motherships offloading containers from the Far East for transhipment to Europe have also been seriously delayed, with delays of 24-30 hours being reported.

The congestion has resulted in a slowdown of goods reaching Sharjah and Abu Dhabi ports through smaller feeder vessels from Jebel Ali. The number of containers handled in Abu Dhabi’s Mina Zayed Port fell by 17% in July, to 23,438 TEU, with officials attributing it to a delay in feeder vessels arriving from Jebel Ali.

Also in July, OOCL warned customers that it continued to face huge delays for transshipment connections to Ajman, Sharjah and other Upper Gulf countries via Jebel Ali due to heavy port congestion at the latter port.

Source : WorldCargoNews, 29 August 2008

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