Shipping companies are warning about the worsening congestion at Shenzen’s Yantian port in China, after the discovery of several asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 in the city.
According to Reuters, Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT) has imposed strict disinfection and quarantine measures since May 21 when the virus was discovered among port staff. In fact, over 40 container ships were anchored in open water outside the terminal.
Now, major shipping companies note that they could be skipping some port calls to Yantian to ease the pressure, while some ships may be re-routed to other destinations.
However, even before the disruption at Yantian, global supply chains were struggling to clear container backlogs, due to the blockage of the Suez Canal in March.
What is more, during May, Yantian port temporarily suspended the acceptance of export laden container ships, causing congestion outside the port.
Commenting on the delays, Maersk warned that they could last 12 days, longer than its previous expectation of 7-8 days. In addition, other shipping companies, such as COSCO Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd and ONE also alerted their customers to the growing delays.
To address this issue, shipping companies and Chinese authorities have advised vessels to divert to nearby ports, including Shenzen’s west port and Guangzhou’s Nansha port.
