The need to slow inbound container flows is growing as some retailers and manufacturers fail to pick up containersbecause warehouses are full or closed due to not being deemed essential service providers responding to the coronavirus, or because retailers have requested delayed deliveries at distribution centers.

CMA CGM is the latest carrier to offer a “Delay in Transit” option that will allow shippers to store import containers at nine of its transshipment hubs in Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean as cargo owners adjust supply chains in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The carrier joins Mediterranean Shipping Co., which this week announced it was expanding its “Suspension of Transit” (SOT) offeringby adding four more transshipment hubs, for a total of six locations, to where cargo owners can store cargo outside the marine terminal. For its part, Maersk Line is offering storage at origin ports in Asia, where goods can be quickly loaded once demand returns.

Shipping line COSCO is promoting a new service also called “DIT PROGRAM”–Delay In Transit via Piraeus, as a hub connection for lower storage charges. The feeder services can cover from Piraeus to Europe main ports, Mediterranean and North Africa ports.

Source: JOC, MSC, Mallory Alexander Global Transport