New information reports that traffic along the Yangtze, China’s longest river, as well as a huge source of cargoes both domestically and for export, is getting worse.
Namely, the Singapore’s Eastport Research indicated that traffic worsened at ports near and along the Yangtze River during October. In fact, the average time spent per vessel in Zhangjiagang and Shanghai increased by almost a day in October.
This happens as there is a severe shortage of pilots slowing vessel movements. More specifically, specialised river pilots are now required to be quarantined after completing their duties, which caused pilot shortages.
Furthermore, the average time spent per vessel rose by 169% year-on-year for Jiangyin, 154% year-on-year for Nantong, 41% year-on-year for Ningbo and 190% year-on-year for Zhangjiagang in October, according to data publised by Eastport.
What is more, about 3bn tonnes of cargo is moved by ship along the Yangtze every year, rendering it the busiest inland waterway for cargo in the world.
In a similar development, during October the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach hit a congestion milestone, as 100 ships are waiting at anchor or in drift zones.
Namely, the ports’ effort has not been enough to balance the cargo volume coming from China’s biggest export ports.
In fact, the number of vessels drifting or anchored off LA / Long Beach has ben steadily increasing for months, regularly setting new records.
The result is that currently 100 vessels are waiting, beating last month’s record of 97.
