According to Maersk, the world’s second-largest container shipping company, the Shanghai lockdown imposed by the authorities in order to stop the virus spreading, will have a great impact on trucking services and will increase transport costs.
As it was mentioned, there will be two phases for this lockdown during which there will be conducted a mass testing procedure.
Accordingly, all residents will have to stay in their homes. The public transport will be suspended and only private cars will be allowed to make just the necessary journeys. The congestion at the port which is already high, is expected to increase even more in the coming days.
What is more, all firms and factories will suspend production since people will be working from home. There is an exception for those who those involved in essential services and food supply.
Trucking service in and out (of) Shanghai will be severely impacted by 30% due to a full lockdown on Shanghai’s Pudong and Puxi areas in turn until 5th April
…said Maersk in an advisory to clients on Monday.
Consequently, there will be longer delivery time and a possible rise in transport costs such as detour fee and highway fee
…the company added.
According to SEKO Logistics, a U.S.-based freight transport and warehousing company, the factories in the province of Zhejiang prefer to move cargo out of Ningbo’s port, rather than Shanghai.
We are anticipating: a sharp increase in air freight rates from today. We have already received some sky-high offers for enquires to Europe so far today
…SEKO Logistics said on its website.
Recently, there have been many concerns over this topic, with China announcing sweeping new lockdowns. It goes without saying that lockdowns will impact manufacturing and other sectors even if the ports continue to operate normally.
For this reason, the Predictive Maritime Intelligence company, Windward, had released its insights on how Shenzhen ports locking down might affect the supply chain.
