Major shipping lines skip Dammam calls until heavy congestion eases

SAUDI Arabia's east coast port of Dammam is heavily congested, resulting in vessel berthing delays of 5-8 days.

The congestion has been blamed on container volumes at the two main Saudi ports of Jeddah and Dammam soaring by 22 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in the first half of 2012, labour shortages and customs clearance delays.

As a result, major shipping lines have been removing direct calls to Dammam from their Far East-Middle East services to maintain schedule integrity. The port will be served by several high capacity feeders in the time being, reports Alphaliner.

APL and MOL will remove Dammam from their joint Far East-Middle service (WAX/CMI) and will continue to call at the port with a dedicated Bahrain-Dammam feeder service that uses on 4,330-TEU vessel.

The report said OOCL and COSCO will remove Dammam from their joint Far East-Middle service (MAX/MEX) and will continue to cover the port with a Jebel Ali-Dammam feeder service that is run by a 5,089-TEU ship.

Meanwhile, the Dammam port operator is trying to ease the situation by securing more yard space for container storage, adding land side equipment, working with authorities to expedite cargo clearance, and pushing shipping agents to get consignees to take faster delivery of customs-cleared containers from the port.