Global warming is leading to liner disruption, the CEO of the world’s sixth largest containerline claimed. Speaking as keynote at the TOC Asia exhibition, Jeremy Nixon, CEO of Japanese liner Ocean Network Express (ONE), said growing fierce weather patterns are causing delays for ports and ships around the world, principally in Asia where the number and ferocity of typhoons are growing.
Typhoons in recent years have tracked further north, hitting Shanghai. The world’s largest container port has seen more days closed because of bad weather than before. In August last year, for instance, the port was closed for eight days, compared to just one day in 2017.
The heavy weather is not just disrupting supply chains in Asia. Nixon said severe weather had hampered rail operations in North America and Europe had also suffered. On the markets, Nixon admitted that there was an economic slowdown, but he was adamant it was not a slump. He predicted supply/demand to tighten in 2019. Volumes for January and February had been “quite flat”, with Australia especially poor, while one of the growth areas had been Vietnam.