Ningbo Zhoushan Port due to the epidemic caused by the closure of the port area affected or over-Yantian?

SMM August 13: recently, Ningbo news said that a case of novel coronavirus who tested positive for nucleic acid was found at the wharf of Zhoushan Port in Ningbo. At present, the patient has been isolated and hospitalized for observation, and the related sites involved have suspended operations.

As a result, Meishan Terminal has suspended all incoming luggage services, but considering that most shipping companies have used the terminal before, if the port is closed for a long time, other terminals in Ningbo will not be able to fully absorb the cargo volume brought about by the long-term closure of Meishan Terminal, which will eventually cause a chain reaction. This is very similar to the situation at Yantian Port in Shenzhen at that time. At that time, after the Yantian Port in Shenzhen was blocked due to the epidemic, even if other terminals tried their best to make up for it, they were still unable to bear all the transport capacity.

And even if ships can temporarily dock at other docks, three Maersk warehouses in Ningbo Meishan Free Trade Port have been shut down as required, according to a Maersk spokesman.

Not only that, the previous typhoon "fireworks" also had a great impact on Ningbo Port. According to statistics, there are about 140 container ships waiting in the Anchorage of the two ports, a huge number.

On the other hand, Hamburg and South America also said a few days ago that restrictions during the epidemic period had seriously delayed normal shipments between Asia and Northern Europe. It is reported that not only is the connection between trucks and railway services taking longer and longer, but ships have also been delayed for nearly seven days. The shipping company admitted that the slowdown in the return of ships to Asia had greatly delayed imports, the rotation of future flights and the supply of empty containers.

Akhil Nair, vice president of global carrier management and maritime strategy at Seko Logistics, commented that if Ningbo Port or one of the six terminals is indeed closed or affected by a decline in productivity, it may have a long-term impact similar to that of Yantian Port. Carriers will need to decide whether they choose to jump to maintain the reliability of the existing schedule or get stuck in inevitable queues and congestion.

Previously, because of the spread of the epidemic, Yantian Port once caused freight rates from Asia to the west coast of North America to soar by 236% compared with the same period in 2020, and some importers even said that they could not guarantee that the goods would be delivered on time after freight rates rose by nearly 300%.