Odd container ship parking lot in the Channel

[Barchettaman]

Afternoon all,
I flew from Frankfurt to Birmingham yesterday; the route took us over the Channel with Rotterdam on our starboard side, and then over Southend.

I was sat on the port side and below in the middle of the sea were 40-45 container ships, all at anchor.

What was that all about? Waiting for berths in their destination ports?

TIA

[pequod]

Possibly waiting to berth, or some may be anchored awaiting new contracts. Difficult to say...

Hopefully they're not full of parts I need?

[TeeRev]

I just checked on marinetraffic.com, I counted 40, most of them are tankers of some sort, some are waiting for orders but a lot are just waiting to get a slot in port.

[Stick Legs]

Supply chains are still wonky.

Ships which would have been enmeshed in a tightly controlled just in time ballet which has been completely screwed by Covid.

It’s going to take years to get back to where it was and that was without a war in Ukraine.

I passed Wandelaar anchorage & off Harwich the other day and it seems a little busier than usual but not unusually so.

[Condi]

Lots of LNG and oil tankers waiting to berth.

Not so much affecting the UK yet but Shanghai lockdown is causing mayhem for container shipping ex China. Global businesses buying from China are seriously looking at alternatives closer to home or at least diversifying from China, as shipping is becoming a major headache. If the cost of transport increases then it becomes more worthwhile paying the extra labour cost and buying from E/Europe.