The number of containers blocked in the south of China due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in the port of Yantian, it has already exceeded that of containers blocked in March when Ever Given stopped traffic in the Suez Canal in Egypt. The situation has been stalled for a few days already, as reported by several international newspapers.
Lars Jensen, CEO of Danish consultancy Vespucci Maritime, analyzed the numbers to compare the impacts of the two cases. Yantian it moved 13.3 million teu in 2020, equal to 36.400 teu per day. Assuming Yantian, responsible for more than a third of Guangdong’s foreign trade and a quarter of China’s trade with the United States, has worked with 30% operational efficiency since the Covid-19 outbreak was detected two weeks ago , about 25,500 teu per day were not moved, for a total of about 357,000 teu to date. When Suez was blocked by Ever Given it impacted a flow daily of 55,000 teu.
However, the Suez crisis of March lasted only six days. “Shippers shouldn’t underestimate the magnitude of the next ripple effects,” Jensen warned in a LinkedIn post. “Although some ships have been diverted to other ports, such as Nansha, Shekou and Hong Kong, these facilities are unable to handle the entire extra flow.”
There are around 40 ships waiting in Yantian. “Every day the pile of backlogs increases. Once the ports reopen to normal operations, we should expect a wave of freight to handle. This in turn will cause further congestion in the ports of arrival, with a delay of around two to five weeks, “Jensen warned.
From marinetraffic.com