HIGHLIGHTS
- Shanghai implemented a city-wide lockdown, 477 huge cargo ships dotted the seas outside Chinese ports
- Trucking was also impeded by mandatory mass testing of truckers and workers in March and April in Hebei and Liaoning regions, where congestion was lower.
FULL ARTICLE
Blockade of Shanghai, Chinese ports are in trouble
477 huge cargo ships dotted the seas outside Chinese ports, ready to deliver supplies ranging from metal ore to grain.
According to Bloomberg shipping data, there were 222 bulkers waiting off Shanghai on April 11, up 15% from a month earlier. There were 134 carriers in Ningbo-Zhoushan, up 0.8 percent from last month, while the combined ports of Rizhao, Dongjiakou, and Qingdao saw a 33 percent increase to 121 boats.
The bottleneck was exacerbated by the fact that there were 197 container ships loading or waiting to load in Shanghai’s joint anchorage with Ningbo, up 17% from a month ago.
Positive signs in a few provinces
According to ship owners and dealers, a shortage of port personnel in Shanghai is hindering the delivery of documentation needed for ships to offload commodities. Meanwhile, trucks are unable to transport products from the port to processing facilities, leaving vessels carrying metals such as copper and iron ore stuck offshore, they claimed.
Some of the gridlock is spreading to neighboring ports, with ships being diverted north to Qingdao and Tianjin, where trucking services have not been affected as much, according to the people. On April 11, 54 ships were waiting in Tianjin, a 29 percent increase in a month.
Trucking was also impeded by mandatory mass testing of truckers and workers in March and April in Hebei and Liaoning regions, where congestion was lower. In Liaoning’s Dalian port, ship waits were 36% shorter than last month, and in Hebei’s Tangshan, they were 35% shorter.
Tran Van Hieu
China: Ships carrying corn flocked makes congestion in the Southern Ports
