Hapag-Lloyd has cut the export container acceptance window at APM Terminals Valencia from 14 days to nine days before a vessel's estimated time of arrival, citing congestion at the Spanish terminal. The restriction took effect immediately and will stay in place until further notice1.
Boxes delivered earlier may be rejected, which can add transport and storage costs, the carrier said. Hapag-Lloyd told customers and hauliers to check gate opening dates for the relevant vessel before arranging deliveries1. It said it will not grant exceptions, and will not change vessel calls solely to fit containers that arrive outside the window1.
Pressure moves to smaller ports
The Valencia notice comes as congestion shifts away from the largest container gateways. Drewry's Intra-Asia Container Index rose $46 to $1,504 per 40ft, and the index is about 200% higher than a year earlier3. Rates from Greater China to North-east, South-east and South Asia were mostly stable, because large Chinese ports and Singapore absorbed the backlog2.
Shanghai to Singapore fell 3% to $1,889 per 40ft, and Shanghai to Tanjung Pelepas fell 2% to $2,053 per 40ft3. Three lanes are the exception. On Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta and Laem Chabang, Drewry said rates are still climbing from high levels3.
Jakarta is particularly exposed. Drewry said Tanjung Priok's limited operational flexibility makes it hard to handle vessel bunching3. The Loadstar reported that sudden, unscheduled arrivals of several ships overwhelm roads and container depots that are already full2. State operator Pelindo began running Terminal 2 Petikemas on a preliminary basis in August. Work on the New Priok Eastern Access road, however, started only in July and will take 20 months to complete2.
Tanjung Priok is Indonesia's busiest port. It handles more than 50% of the country's transhipment cargo and has three container terminals5.
Equipment, waiting time and cost
A forwarder at Taiwan's Dimerco told The Loadstar that Jakarta's landside logistics had not caught up with improvements in terminal capacity. Slow turnarounds make lines reluctant to absorb the cost of repositioning empty boxes, the forwarder said. "This local equipment shortage drives up the prices for available containers."2
At Ho Chi Minh City, average vessel waiting times rose from eight to 22 hours over the past fortnight, as of Week 43, according to Drewry3. The Loadstar reported the same increase2.
Rate moves on the smaller lanes were mixed. Jakarta to Shanghai, a backhaul route, rose 9% to $81 per 40ft3. Shanghai to Jebel Ali stayed high at $8,584 per 40ft, which Drewry linked to the deteriorating situation in the Middle East3. The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index put Shanghai to South-east Asia at $1,164 per TEU, the standard 20-foot container, up 2%2.
Mainline forecasts point the other way
Drewry expects intra-Asia rates to stay broadly stable in the coming weeks, but said further capacity additions could add to supply and threaten that stability3.
The forecast for the wider market is weaker. Xeneta expects global average spot rates to fall 30% in 2027, and long-term rates to fall 5%, against a third-quarter 2026 baseline. It said the return of services to the Suez Canal is central to that forecast, alongside new tonnage4. Capacity already released by the Suez return is 599k TEU, and carriers are due to take delivery of 2.9m TEU in 2027, Xeneta said4.
Peter Sand, Xeneta's chief analyst, said supply growth will outrun demand in 2027. He also said supply chain shocks have overturned rate forecasts in each of the past three years4.
Valencia's gate under more boxes
Valencia's September figures show more gateway boxes moving through the port, while overall volumes are flat. The port authority reported September container traffic up 5.48% to 498,837 TEUs, with exports up 5.68% and imports up 11.68%6. Over the past 12 months it handled 5,623,753 TEUs, just 30 containers fewer than the previous twelve months6. Full export containers rose 3.88% over that period to 921,642 TEUs, while full containers in transit are down 10.66% so far this year6. China remains the port's largest container market, at 714,691 TEUs in the first nine months, up 15.07%6.
Hapag-Lloyd linked the window cut to congestion at the terminal, without saying what is driving the congestion or when the restriction will end1.
What to watch
Pacific International Lines was scheduled to launch its JKS service on 5 November. The fortnightly loop uses two ships of 1,900 to 2,600 TEU and calls at Singapore, Laem Chabang and Jakarta2, 3. Drewry said further capacity additions could add to supply and threaten market stability3.
For exporters, the immediate question is how long the nine-day window at APMT Valencia lasts, and whether other terminals or carriers issue similar notices. Hapag-Lloyd's advisory covers export cargo at that terminal and carries no end date1.