TSA adds capacity, fearing congestion at HK, Singapore, Shanghai

The world's busiest container ports of Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai are reportedly facing increased congestion, which raises fears of slower cargo movement and unreliable shipping schedules.

"There isn't a lot of margin for error in the system," said Ron Widdows, chairman of the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement in a statement, reported Bloomberg.

The congestion has been blamed on growing Intra-Asia and Asia-Europe trade ahead of the peak shipping season. The report noted that in June alone, TSA member container lines handled 16 per cent more boxes than in the same month a year ago.

"Forecasts from our customers indicate a healthy second half for the container shipping sector,"' said Mr Widdows, who is also chief executive officer of Neptune Orient Lines' container shipping arm, APL Ltd.

In a bid to overcome the possibility of shipment delays, the 14-member group intends to raise the capacity deployed on routes to the US east coast by a total of about 70,000 FEU this year to meet demand for 2008, the report added.