Container vessels are forced to divert from the port of Ningbo due to restrictions imposed by health authorities following the diagnosis of a single case of COVID in a worker. Currently 50 container vessels are awaiting entry into the port and 14 vessels operated by the world’s largest shipping companies are attempting to obtain berths at other ports.
The Ministry of Transportation in China is requiring crews of vessels to have negative COVID tests before allowing discharge of cargo. There does not appear to be consistency in policy among ports in China with regard to attempts at preventing introduction of infection. Officials at the Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company are trying to restore normal activity with a concentration on containers.
Closure of ports is playing havoc with supply chains. Delays in Shanghai and Xiamen have resulted following restrictions on berthing and unloading. This has exacerbated the shortage of available containers to ship U.S. agricultural products west-bound to Asia. The shortage of containers and consequential rise in shipping rates, that emerged as a logistic problem has now become far worse due to the intervention of the Government of China and authorities administering ports.