The impact of the Yantian Port epidemic has exceeded the Suez Canal ship? 101 ports around the world are blocked!

"As of now, the number of berths in production in the Yantian Port Area has reached 9, and 8,000 export heavy containers of ETA-7 are received every day, and the daily throughput is nearly 24,000 TEUs. The overall operating capacity of the port area’s terminals has been restored to 70%....in On the premise of doing a good job in the prevention and control of the epidemic, Yantian Port is expected to basically resume production levels by the end of June."

China's epidemic prevention and control efficiency has been quite high. However, considering that Yantian Port is the fourth largest port in the world and the third largest in China, it is responsible for more than 1/3 of Guangdong’s foreign trade imports and exports, and 1/4 of the country’s trade with the United States. The daily container handling capacity can reach 36,000 TEUs. The slowdown will have a significant impact on international logistics and the global supply chain. Some analysts even believe that the impact of congestion at the South China port this time may be more serious than that of the Changci freighter that jammed the Suez Canal in Egypt in March.

Lars Jensen, shipping analyst and chief executive officer of Vespucci Maritime, said that the number of congested containers in Yantian Port has exceeded the number of containers blocked in the Suez Canal due to the stranded Long-Civil Vessel——

The blockage of the Suez Canal affected the daily flow of more than 55,000 TEU, which lasted for 6 days, and the total amount was 330,000 TEU. Yantian Port has been unable to handle the daily flow of nearly 25,000 TEU, and accumulated 357,000 TEU in 14 days.

According to Refinitiv's ship tracking data, as of June 17, more than 50 container ships were forced to stop at sea outside Yantian Port and were unable to enter the port for unloading.

From June 1st to June 15th, 298 ships with a total capacity of more than 3 million container ships in Yantian Port chose to skip Shenzhen instead of calling at the port, and the number of ships jumping into the port increased by 300% in one month.

In the past two weeks, the average stay time of export containers at Yantian Wharf increased from an average of 7 days to 14 days, and reached 23.06 days on June 15.

After many routes were cancelled, lack of containers has also become a major problem for South China ports.

Australian transporter Neolin warned, “The decline in port production efficiency may cause serious empty container challenges. Shippers who have important orders and plan to export by sea in southern China’s ports in the next two weeks should prepare a response plan or transfer to nearby ports. , Or have to consider air transport."

According to the latest data from ContainerxChange, a German container rental trading platform, Yantian Port, Shekou Port and Nanshan Port are facing the most serious shortage of containers. In the past five weeks, the import of empty containers at Yantian Port has decreased by 19%, and Nanshan Port and Shekou Port have also decreased by 16% and 30%. Shippers who ship from these ports will face the dilemma of delays in waiting for empty containers or raising container quotations.

Jon Monroe, founder of Jon Monroe Consulting, a Washington consulting firm, said that the port congestion effect of Yantian Port and the impact on other alternative ports have had more impact on trade than the blockage of the Suez Canal. He said: "We can only tell customers that there is no alternative solution to this dilemma."

The blockage of the Suez Canal affects Asia-Europe trade more, while Yantian Port mainly affects Sino-US trade.

A manager of the Maersk Group said, “This is a huge, very busy port. Delays here will cause a ripple effect in the supply chain around the world.” He said that the number one and second largest retailer in the United States Products sold by Wal-Mart and Home Depot will be affected.

Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation (NRF), said that more than two-thirds of its more than 16,000 members said that the supply chain must be delayed by 2-3 weeks. NRF has written to U.S. President Biden, calling on him to take action on the port plight.

Not only that, the deterioration of congestion in major ports around the world is continuing. Seaexplorer, a container transportation platform, pointed out that on June 18, 304 ships were waiting for berths in front of ports around the world. It is estimated that 101 ports around the world have congestion problems.

The number of container ships waiting for berths in Singapore Port has increased by 37.5% in the past week. In order to make up for the delays in Yantian Port, many shipping companies, including COSCO Shipping and CMA CGM, have decided to skip Singapore Port without berthing.

In Thailand, Laem Chabang port (Laem Chabang) also has queues for ships waiting for the port.

Also in order to curb the development of the epidemic, Malaysia has been completely blocked from June 1 to 14. Although port freight is allowed to operate, furniture factories are prohibited from operating. This has caused more than 2,000 containers of export goods in the furniture industry to be stranded.

South Korean ports are also facing a large backlog of cargo. In Busan Port, which accounts for more than 70% of South Korean container throughput, a large number of containers are stacked one after another, leaving only narrow passages to allow vehicles to pass.

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Simon Heaney, senior manager of container research at Drewry, a professional maritime consultancy, said: “There are currently no obstacles to prevent rates from continuing to rise. Demand is still soaring and port productivity and equipment availability are deteriorating. Unless these conditions change, otherwise. Freight rates will continue to rise.” Drewry believes that changes will not take place until the fourth quarter of 2021 at the earliest.

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