Huge inflows of steel imports, mostly consisting of coils and tubes, are currently putting the Italian ports through a very stern test. Reports coming in from transporters and from customs all give the same picture – of enormous arrivals of steel products by sea which are overwhelming (by a large extent, according to some) the capacity of the Italian ports. T
his is the case for Marghera (port of Venice) and Ravenna, where ships are being obliged to wait offshore due to the inability of the ports to unload cargoes and clear backlogs fast enough. The daily cost of being forced to wait is in the range of US$ 20,000-30,000 for each ship.
The impact is evident both as regards transport costs, and also in terms of the frayed nerves of the traders, who having concluded orders months earlier, now see their steel products blocked at the ports instead of being stored in their warehouses.
“The most difficult situation is seen at Ravenna, but the crisis has also impacted at Porto Marghera,” remarked one customs broker. Another commented, “There are two delicate factors which often put the structure of our ports under strain – in first place, the inadequacy of the infrastructure which is not able to support the workload brought by the strong arrivals of steel products; secondly, warehousing space which is not big enough for the ports.”
The risk, or better to say, the fact is that we are seeing a pile-up of tonnages, with the different products of different customers all being mixed up. ‘Chaos’ was how one trader summed up the situation.
There are some traders (the case of one big trader in particular), who due to delays in arrivals of products, may end up losing sales contracts as a result of these external factors.