PortXchange in the press

More than 4.3 million TEUs of containership capacity is currently waiting to berth worldwide, according to Linerlytica data, surpassing the roughly 4.0 million TEU peak recorded during the 2022 disruption.

Blank sailings across the main East–West container trades surged sharply this month, signalling a new phase of schedule volatility that is rippling through ports, terminals, and inland networks. Data from Drewry shows a 122 percent month on month increase in withdrawn sailings, effectively doubling removed capacity compared with the prior period. While seasonal fluctuations around the Lunar New Year are typical, analysts and operators say the scale of disruption now reflects deeper structural pressures shaping global liner networks.

Ports rarely make headlines as climate actors. When they do, it is usually because something has gone wrong: fires on container ships, containers lost at sea, blocked waterways, or local air-quality crises. This is an issue because ports sit at the overlap of global trade, logistics, energy systems, and cities. If we are serious about decarbonising the economy, ports need far more attention than they currently get.

Across Europe and North America, many medium-sized ports are required to report their emissions annually, but are often shorthanded. Their small sustainability teams manage environmental planning alongside finance or strategic responsibilities, while navigating complex monitoring regulations. Much of their time goes into gathering and cleaning fragmented emissions data from visiting vessels, leaving limited capacity to focus on reducing emissions.

The shipping industry is at a breaking point. Rising carbon costs, stricter regulations, and mounting pressure from customers mean ports can’t afford to run on spreadsheets, siloed data, and a “that’s how we’ve always done it” mentality anymore. I wanted to speak with Sjoerd de Jager, Managing Director & Co-Founder of PortXchange, because he’s not just pointing out the cracks in the system—he’s building tools to fix them.