Amid COVID-19 outbreak, Chinese health officials informed that two cold-chain storage workers in the port of Tianjin were tested coronavirus positive, as the country shifts focus to contaminated imports after a number of outbreaks linked to frozen food.
According to local media sources, Chinese customs will further enhance inspection of cold-chain imported foods in an effort to control and prevent the risk of imported coronavirus infections.
In light of the situation, the container major, Hapag-Lloyd informed that due to the instructions issued by local authorities, all reefer shipments to Tianjin are required to complete an inspection and test for COVID-19 before release.
As such, reefer plugs in the terminal is facing severe shortage, resulting vessel berthing schedules being postponed.
Additionally, all related inbound operations as well as container pickup activities have been severely impacted.
As a result, reefer plugs has been fully utilized. Despite every effort, it was not possible to timely discharge all reefer containers in Tianjin and subsequently diverted to alternative ports such as Qingdao, Dalian, and other China Ports or keep the cargo at Busan. We anticipate that this situation, which is beyond Hapag-Lloyd’s control, and will continue for the upcoming weeks.
…. as Hapag-Lloyd noted.
Concluding, operators are recommended to accept delivery at current port of discharge if situation allows, or divert their reefer containers to another port / destination or at least return their reefer containers back to origin.