Latest Freight News from China- 13th Jan, 2022

Tier-wise lockdown in Tianjin

Authorities in the port city of Tianjin put in place a tiered system of lockdowns and are testing all 14 million residents. In certain areas of the city, people are not allowed t leave their homes, only family members are allowed to leave to buy groceries every other day.

Delay in deliveries due to COVID-19 testing

The Port of Tianjin and the airport have suspended pickup operations for all import containers along with an increase in nasal swab testing for port and airport staff is causing delays in deliveries. Marine terminals at the port are operating normally, but inbound gates have reduced hours, and all truck drivers are required to register for access to the port after clearing their own health tests.  

Beijing airport update

Beijing Airport is operating normally, but truck deliveries from Tianjin are restricted. Some factories are rejecting trucks from Tianjin.

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Beijing-Tianjin commute restricted

Beijing is about 70 miles northwest of Tianjin and easily reached by car or high-speed train. The Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Sunday advised Beijing residents not to visit Tianjin and those in Tianjin to refrain from travelling to the capital. It also asked commuters between the two cities to work from home. By Sunday evening, train tickets from Tianjin to Beijing could no longer be purchased online.

Effect on Xi'an and Yuzhou

Residents of Xi’an and Yuzhou, two cities further from Beijing, are also confined to their homes. Xi’an, with 13 million residents, has been under lockdown for two weeks, but there were only 15 cases on Monday. The airport in Xi’an remains closed, and rail and road freight is restricted. The closure is causing spillover congestion at the nearby Chengdu airport

Overall freight impact

Freight transportation companies and shippers fear labor shortages due to COVID outbreaks and precautionary measures will lead to a continuation of supply chain disruptions in 2022, with the omicron variant spreading rapidly and the possibility of new variants popping up.  

Updates from Ningbo

Trucking operations at the Port of Ningbo slowed last week after health authorities imposed testing requirements on drivers and forced factories to close. Lower productivity circulating containers could eventually cause vessel delays. After several days with revised operations, container gate-in and gate-out activities are now also back to normal with a combined yard density of around 75%, shipping line Maersk said. However, trucking services in Jinhua Yongkang, the mid-high-risk area in the Beilun factory district and the area outside the Zhejiang province, are suspended under the strict regulation by the epidemic prevention policy.

Updates from Zhengzhou

In Zhengzhou, hundreds of thousands of workers at iPhone maker Foxconn’s facilities and Huawei’s research campus in Dongguan are being tested as more COVID cases appear. Zhengzhou is an air cargo hub and restrictions there could cause“massive” issues for shippers.

Other news

China's self-developed super large bulk carrier ship delivered

An 85,600-tonne super large bulk carrier ship independently developed and built by China was delivered in Guangzhou City of south China's Guangdong Province on Monday.

The carrier, 228.9 meters long and 36 meters wide, is suitable for the shipping of cargo such as coal, ore, grain and cement. It is expected to become the main ship type for ocean transportation in the future.

Chinese mainland records 221 confirmed COVID-19 cases

The Chinese mainland recorded 221 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, with 166 linked to local transmissions and 55 from overseas, data from the National Health Commission showed on Wednesday.