477 cargo ships lined up at the ports of East China to unload.

Affected by the epidemic, Shanghai, which has the world's largest container port, has been affected by a shortage of truck drivers and warehouse closures, with the number of ships waiting for a surge in the waters near the port of East China. At present, at least 477 cargo ships loaded with raw materials such as metals, ores and grains, as well as containers are congested at ports in eastern China waiting for customs clearance.

According to reports, ships carrying goods lined up outside the port more than two weeks later after Shanghai adopted a block control in batches at the end of March. Ship congestion has spread to the nearby ports of Ningbo and Zhoushan, and shipowners are "desperately" moving their ships to other ports to avoid the impact of a shortage of truck drivers and the closure of warehouses in Shanghai. However, in view of this situation, on the 12th, the Ministry of Communications said that in order to make every effort to ensure the smooth operation of Shanghai Port, the relevant departments should coordinate with international shipping companies to ensure the investment of flights and shipping spaces linked to Shanghai Port, and should not reduce the number of flights and spaces linked to Shanghai Port at will.

According to previous shipping data, as of April 11, there were 222 bulk carriers waiting to enter the port, an increase of 15% from a month ago. There are 134 ships in Ningbo and Zhoushan, an increase of 0.8% over the previous month, while congestion in Rizhao Port, Dongjiakou Port and Qingdao Port further north also increased by 33%, bringing the total number of ships in the three ports to 121. Some ships have been evacuated to the northern Tianjin port, where 54 ships were moored outside the port on April 11, an increase of 29 percent within a month, according to people familiar with the matter.

It is worth noting that 197 container ships are being loaded or waiting to be loaded in the berthing areas near Zhoushan in Shanghai and Ningbo, an increase of 17% over a month ago.

However, the degree of congestion in the ports of Hebei and Liaoning provinces is relatively low, although large-scale nucleic acid testing of truck drivers and workers in March and April reduced truck transport efficiency to a certain extent, but the queue of ships in Dalian Port decreased by 36% compared with the previous month, and the queue of ships in Tangshan decreased by 35% compared with the previous month.

According to shipping companies and traders, the shortage of manpower in Shanghai Port has slowed down the efficiency of ship unloading and the delivery of various documents needed. Meanwhile, ships carrying metals such as copper and iron ore have to wait in the berth because trucks are unable to transport goods from the port to the factory.

On Wednesday, Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, president and vice president of the European Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said its members estimated that the throughput of Shanghai Port fell by about 40 per cent month-on-week. She pointed out that although the port is operating normally, land-side logistics still faces challenges, mainly due to the shortage of truck drivers affected by the epidemic and facing inconsistent control needs in different regions.

FourKites tracking data from supply chain data company shows that freight volume in Shanghai Port has fallen by about 1/3 since March 12, as shippers diverted shipments to other ports.

Shanghai is a very important node in the global supply chain, and its port ranks first in container throughput for 12 years in a row. The closure continues to put pressure on the global supply chain, German media quoted Joerg Wuttke, president of the China-EU Chamber of Commerce, as saying that this will certainly affect the global supply, price and choice of goods.