Predictive Maritime Intelligence company, Windward, releases insights on how container shipping operations were affected by the Shenzhen’s 7-day lockdown.
Two days after the lockdown announcement, no significant change in the number of port calls made to Shenzhen ports by container vessels was recorded, according to Windward’s vessel data.
This week, Windward data indicated a decrease of 84% in the volume of container vessel operations in Yantian port, dropping from 50,163 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) on March 15, to only two port calls and 6,328 TEUs on March 18, and eventually none on March 20.
Shekou went from a daily average of 20 port calls by container vessels, maintained steadily since November 2021, to an average of 12 after the lockdown announcement. Regarding the number of containers handled, that represents a drop from 53,602 TEUs on average in the weeks prior to the lockdown, to 24,581 TEUs on average afterwards.
Windward data also indicates that most container shipping ports in China have almost entirely recovered from the heavily congested month of February, a feat most ports in and around Shenzhen have yet to achieve.
This corresponds to a Windward report from last week, covering historical behavioral data from the previous congestion in Shenzhen last June. That report revealed that it took about 5-6 months to recover from the decrease of operations caused by the lockdown restrictions.
In the end, it is not enough to only look at port calls or port congestion, as each individually may offer a partial or incorrect reflection of the situation. To get the full picture of such a complex situation, it is necessary to analyze multiple sources.
