China’s Guangdong Province has been hit by the spread of Covid-19, resulting in serious disruptions in work at the main southern Chinese ports.
For instance, on June 23, 15 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Guangdong, with 150 cases overall in Guangdong being recorded up until June 23, and with most of the cases reported in Guangzhou city. Blockade measures have caused serious disruptions at Guangzhou port.
Moreover, cases have also been found in another major port in Guangdong Province, at Yantian terminal, and so it is now operating at only 30 percent of its capacity, resulting in the redirection of goods to the nearby terminals of Nansha and Shekou.
The diversions have caused major traffic jams as the other ports have not been able to accommodate all ships. At the same time, container loading is hampered by customs regulations. Accordingly, the processing of containers has started to take about a week and the total transit time has risen to 15 or 16 days.
Ahead of this round of the outbreak of Covid-19, there was already a tightness in availability of freight.
Yantian, Shekou, Chiwan and Nansha will not allow ships into port without reservations in advance, while they only accept reservations made three to seven days before the arrival of ships.
Big freight companies have warned customers of delays of ships, changes in the port call schedule and the skipping of certain ports. The disruptions at southern ports in China will likely threaten world trade.