As Shanghai nears a month of lockdowns, the world’s busiest container port is striving to return to normalcy, albeit in small steps.
On 17 April, Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), which manages all public terminals in Shanghai port, said that dangerous cargoes can be handled normally, adding that hazardous cargoes in categories 8 and 9 may be released from the storage yard.
SIPG added, “The current epidemic prevention and control in Shanghai are at a critical stage. All SIPG employees are working day and night, strictly implementing various epidemic prevention and control work requirements, while being careful and practical.”
Maersk Line said in a customer advisory on 21 April that some warehouses in Shanghai have partially resumed this week.
The Danish liner giant stated, “Due to the impact of the lockdown, we have faced a temporary reefer and dangerous cargo yard congestion in the terminals. We understand that the terminals are working hard to release more space for reefers and dangerous goods by optimising internal layouts and the situation has been improving in the past few days. We expect to resume reefer and DG cargo booking acceptance to Shanghai shortly.”
On 19 April, Wu Chungeng, an official with China’s Ministry of Transport, asserted that contrary to market speculation, vessels spent an average of 0.99 days at berth in Shanghai in the week ended 17 April, down 12% from January and February but up 2% from a year ago.
He added that in the same week, ships operated by mainline operators spent an average of 2.02 days in Shanghai port, down 44% from a year ago and down 2% from January and February.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
