Posted on 06/16/2021 8:51:39 PM PDT by blam
We previewed last week to readers that port congestion wasn’t just observed across US West Coast ports, such as Los Angeles/Long Beach, but also severe congestion was developing in southern China. At the time, we called it a “perfect storm” ahead of the peak shipping season.
Now the world’s largest container line, Maersk, calls the port congestion at Yantian International Container Terminal, a deepwater port in Shenzhen, Guangdong, in southern China, a much more significant disruption to its operations than the shutdown of the Suez Canal in March.
Ditlev Blicher, Maersk Asia Pacific Managing Director, was quoted by Seatrade Maritime, who said Yantian port is operating at a 40% capacity, and “We’re expecting that to continue for the next month with significant delays for vessels to be able to berth.”
A recent surge in COVID-19 infections in the port area and prevention and restriction measures put in place by local authorities is the primary reason for the lack of capacity at the port.
AP Moller-Maersk’s CEO of Ocean & Logistics, Vincent Clerc, stated:
“I would say this for us is a much bigger disruption than the Ever Given getting stuck in the Suez Canal for some days because of the duration and the importance of Yantian as a gateway.”
Before the outbreak, the average shipping times at Yantian averaged a waiting time of 0.5 days. Now it’s 16 days.
“Right now, we have vessel delays of up to 16 days outside Yantian which is of course going to cause significant ripple effect across the network from a reliability perspective,” Clerc explained.
This has caused a massive traffic jam of container ships in the region, resulting in an unprecedented supply chain impact and another shipping crisis as delays mount, threatening to drive up costs again.
South China Container Port Congestion
Source: Refinitiv
Brian Glick, founder and CEO at supply chain integration platform Chain.io, told CNBC that the latest congestion in Yantian is “absolutely massive” and will have an “unprecedented supply chain impact.”
Already, shipping delays in major Chinese ports drive shipping costs higher as waiting times at berth jumped.
Global Container Prices
Source: Refinitiv
Guangdong accounts for about a quarter of China’s total exports. It’s home to Shenzhen port and Guangzhou port, some of the largest in the world.
Combined with the congestion challenges on the US West Coast, the latest round of congestion in southern China is a significant warning for US businesses and consumers that another round of delays, shortages, and soaring shipping costs is ahead.
Warren Buffet’s BNSF container ops most effected...
“A recent surge in COVID-19 infections in the port area and prevention and restriction measures put in place by local authorities is the primary reason for the lack of capacity at the port.”
I thought China hardly had any Covid cases? Surely that can’t be right! Right!?
Or maybe, just maybe, China was lying all along . . .
This means what?
I'm think maybe shortages here.(?)
Series[sic] Lags at least.
A year and a half of biowarfare, economic, cultural, and civilizational disintegration just to get Orange Man out of office. Astounding. They have unleashed forces and consequences they cannot control.
I’ve been to the South China Port Facility, the ships are lined up to come in like rush hour traffic on the LA freeway.
It is so ironic. Donald Trump worked hard to have more products built in the USA to make us LESS vulnerable to this very thing. All the things Americans want are being denied to them because of this shipping fiasco.
Only a brutally hard lesson will change the process.
Americans MUST suffer to finally see the truth.
That goods coming into US will be delayed by many weeks. It’s already happening but will get worse. I’m in Flooring industry, we are waiting for containers anywhere from 12-18 weeks. Shortages have hit since Spring.
Can’t get Adhesives or other important items. Have you walked a Walmart lately. Some isles have nothing in them. Everything is on back order. IKEA
Was empty the last I visited which was about a month ago and their stuff comes from Europe as well.
Americans MUST suffer to finally see the truth.
—
Suffering does not equal thinking, learning or understanding particularity when to many cannot name the country where Naples, Italy is in. Not a joke - that’s how bad education has become here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.