Japan's shipping industry and services will be hit across the board by the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that slammed the country Friday, according to an initial assessment of the impact by BIMCO, the independent shipping association in Copenhagen.
"Container shipping may be impacted by lack of exports from the Japanese factories, causing liner companies to leap-frog Japanese ports on their trans-Pacific trading lanes," BIMCO said in its assessment. "Both imports and exports may be affected by force majeure."
In the short-term, demand for shipping will stop and only slowly start to move once things get back to normal. In the medium to long-term outlook, demand for shipping may be higher because of this natural disaster, said BIMCO, which provides research for its membership, which consists of shipowners, managers, brokers, agents and other maritime stakeholders.
The ports in the northern part of the country are most affected by the quake and the tsunami. "All ports in that area are assumed to be out of order as operations have stopped and port facilities may have been washed away," BIMCO said.
More than 40 ships were scheduled to arrive or depart at the port of Yokohama on Friday. The port ranked 39th on the JOC's list of Top 50 Global Container Ports for 2009, with volume of 2.8 million 20-foot equivalent units of containers.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach temporarily suspended the transfer of oil and hazardous materials, but container-handling operations were not affected this morning by the magnitude 8.9 earthquake off the coast of Japan.
Long Beach spokesman John Pope said the Coast Guard has not placed any restrictions on container handling, so Long Beach will continue as normal.
Likewise in the Pacific Northwest, the Port of Seattle is maintaining cargo-handling operations without interruption.
Sources: Journal of Commerce, BDP Global Network Partner The Keihin Co. and Keihin Airfreight Co. and BDP International in Los Angeles
