Capacity on roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) vessels is said to be maxed out until the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, with rates spiking 30% on Northern Hemisphere trade lanes.
Freight forwarders requesting space on lanes into the US, European and Asian markets are all discouraged at the moment, with leading ro-ro suppliers saying they won’t make any allocations until at least mid-January.
Japanese ro-ro carrier NYK, and its Nordic competitors Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Höegh Autoliners, have all indicated that the capacity crunch has forced them to suspend bookings until the middle of January, at the earliest.
According to reports from London, allocation will most likely only be made available again from the end of January, beginning of February.
Any bookings taken at the moment seem to be for space in Q2 at the absolute earliest.
Norway-Swedish carrier, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, said it could already see that supply was lagging behind demand when its allocations were more than 90% booked by Q3 this year – and climbing.
