Yantian port back to normal at midnight, container crisis remains

The Port of Yantian is expected to return to normal operations from midnight (00:00, local time) on 24 June, after around a month that the Chinese hub is fighting with challenges caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Hutchison Ports Yantian has confirmed that all berths, including the West Port area, will essentially resume normal operations and the number of laden gate-in tractors will be increased to 9,000 per day, while the pickup of empty containers and import laden containers remain normal.

Additionally, the arrangements of accepting export laden containers will resume normal with “ETA -7” (within seven days of the vessel’s ETA), according to an announcement.

“With the full support of relevant government departments and on the premise of strict epidemic prevention, Hutchison Ports Yantian has taken proactive measures to steadily resume normal terminal operations,” said the port operator in a statement. “Currently, Covid-19 has been effectively under control in the port area, and the operation capacity of the terminals have steadily recovered.”

However, the Yantian terminal’s return to normal operations will not instantly normalise the situation in the region, according to the container shipping analyst, Lars Jensen, who said, “There is a considerable queue of vessels waiting to be serviced – and the queue can be said to be ‘artificially short’ with the many port omissions both executed and still planned into July from the carriers.”

Jensen, CEO of container consultancy Vespucci Maritime, who has previously predicted that Yantian will need more than 80 days to clear 700,000+ TEU queuing outside its quays along with all the cargo scheduled to call in the coming weeks, noted that “there is a huge backlog of cargo to be handled which essentially is cargo now on top of all the other normal flow of export cargo out of Asia.”

In the meantime, Maersk has announced that the schedule reliability remains compromised despite the diminishing queue. “After a six-day stop on export containers, the Port of Yantian is gradually increasing productivity as more workers return and more berths reopen,” said the Danish line on 21 June.

Maersk has published the following plan for the remainder of the month, with 19 of its services being impacted.

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