European Ports Brace for Delayed Impact of Japan Disaster: Freight Markets

European ports including Rotterdam and Hamburg say the Japanese earthquake will begin to affect volumes later this month as dockside stockpiles are depleted and ships that left Tokyo soon after the disaster arrive in harbor. A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the world’s largest container line, has a transit time of 31 days between Yokohama and Rotterdam, Europe’s No. 1 port, so that vessels which left Japan the day after the March 11 quake would dock on April 11. Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA’s car transporters take six weeks to complete the journey via Australia, indicating an arrival date of April 22.