Shanghai lockdown latest

With Shanghai now entering its fourth week in lockdown, cargo deliveries into Shanghai Pudong Airport are becoming backed up and Shanghai-bound cargo is increasingly being discharged elsewhere.

Prior to the city’s lockdown, around 1,000 consignments would typically arrive at Pudong each day, with a collection rate exceeding 80%, but because there is not enough trucking capacity, that pick-up rate has slumped to just 10%.

Cross-provincial road transport restrictions and health requirements, mean truck drivers are having to manage an array of policies and typically wait hours, to to undertake Covid tests, with other cities becoming more reluctant to let trucks from Shanghai enter.

Shanghai-bound ocean cargo is increasingly being discharged elsewhere, while trade press reports that the number of container vessels waiting outside Chinese ports has grown by 195% in two month to over 500.

Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) has denied there were more than 300 ships waiting to load or unload at the port earlier this month, insisting they are maintaining normal 24-hour operations and that the average berth waiting time for container vessels was less than one day.

Data reports in the press suggest that Shanghai container ports are experiencing “significantly reduced” volumes, with the seven-day average throughput “now down 33%, as the supply chain situation in Shanghai continues to deteriorate.

Some carriers, including Maersk, have already stopped accepting reefer and dangerous goods cargoes into Shanghai and while the port remains operational, the severe shortage of trucking capacity means the port is slowly being filled with import cargo that cannot be collected, while widespread factory closures are likely to hit export volumes.

Shanghai factories that have been operating under ‘closed-loop systems’ may soon be forced to stop work due to a combination of material shortages or logistical challenges that make moving people and goods increasingly challenging, plus workers for have been contained for more than three weeks and need to be replaced. 

Reduced land-side trucking capacity is effectively reducing opportunities for cargo collections and deliveries, which means factories may not meet planned delivery schedules, which is why we recommend checking with your vendors, to clarify the status of your orders.

Noatum’s cloud-based supply chain management platform, PowerView, simplifies the most demanding global trading regimes, by making every milestone and participant in the supply chain transparent and controllable, down to individual SKU level. 

To discuss how our technology could support your supply chain, please EMAIL Matt Fullard.