European ports are overloaded due to Trump tariffs

Cargo ships and container ships are facing long waits at major port hubs, with problems expected to last for months. Donald Trump's volatile tariff policies, combined with low river levels, are causing the biggest disruptions to Europe's supply chains since the coronavirus pandemic, shipping and logistics companies are warning.

Flatbed cargo ships (barges) have been left waiting for days to haul in goods, and container ships are facing long delays, with the problems, most pronounced in the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg, expected to last for at least several months.

“All the major port hubs are at capacity,” said Caesar Luikenaar, managing director of Dutch shipping company WEC Lines. He said a number of major ports across Europe are operating at full capacity.

Albert van Ommen, CEO of Dutch logistics company Euro-Rijn Group, said he considered this congestion to be the most severe since the pandemic, when cargo flows remained surprisingly high and exceeded the capacity of ports facing labor shortages.

These problems constitute the latest blow to a global logistics system that until recently allowed many companies to maintain minimal inventory, confident in the fact that scheduled transportation services would regularly refresh supplies, according to a predetermined calendar.

German logistics company Contargo has warned its customers that ships are waiting an average of 66 hours to load containers in Antwerp and 77 hours in Rotterdam. These ships need certain time slots to load at container terminals to ensure efficient unloading and transport of goods.

Casper Ellerbaek, a senior executive at DHL Germany, said the delays had not yet forced any of his customers to halt production due to a shortage of components, but he added that such a "drama" remained a potential risk.

Van Ommen said that in Antwerp, the second busiest container port in Europe, ships were unloading three to five days late.

Logistics companies blamed the crisis on factors such as sudden changes in US tariff policies under President Donald Trump, which have forced container shipping lines to reorganize their networks to adapt to significantly changed global trade flows.

The problems have been further exacerbated by restrictions on ship loading on the Rhine River, after spring droughts left water at extremely low levels.

At the same time, terminals are facing major reorganizations in shipping line alliances, as Switzerland's Mediterranean Shipping Company and Denmark's Maersk, the two largest container shipping lines, have ended their previous cooperation agreement. The changes could bring short-term disruptions as lines change schedules or switch to other terminals.

Meanwhile, European ports are also facing rising import volumes from Asia as high US tariffs are causing goods to be diverted elsewhere. DHL's Ellerbaek blamed the sharp increase in container volumes from Asia to Europe, which he estimated at around 7 percent a year, on changes in the strategies of Asian exporters.

Industry representatives said terminal operators, mostly private companies that rent space at ports from public port authorities, are rushing to hire new staff and buy new equipment to ease the pressure.

ECT, one of the main terminal operators in Rotterdam, acknowledged that the facility was “quite busy” but insisted that this phenomenon was common in northern European ports. ECT cited changes in alliances, growing demand and “geopolitical and economic uncertainties” as reasons.

Mark Rosenberg, commercial director for ports and terminals at Dubai-based DP World, which owns terminals in locations including Antwerp and Rotterdam, said his company's teams were "working diligently" to manage cargo flow and "mitigate disruptions wherever possible."

The Antwerp-Bruges Port Authority, the public institution that manages the port, acknowledged that there is “increased and prolonged congestion.” “This brings short-term operational difficulties, but our systems continue to function within planned limits.” However, some voices in the industry expressed pessimism that the congestion can be easily resolved.

Luikenaar said some shipping companies serving the local market in Europe were being forced to spend a week, instead of the normal maximum of three days, collecting containers from various terminals in Rotterdam for distribution to ports in the region. He said it would take years for investment in sufficient capacity to solve all these problems./FT