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China Blocks Highways To Curb COVID-19, 30 Million Truckers Stranded
Epoch Times ^ | 4/12/22 | Nicole Hao

Posted on 04/12/2022 11:09:36 AM PDT by datura

Over 10 of China’s 34 provinces and regions blocked most entrances of their highways on April 11, and an estimated 30 million truckers are stuck on highways or in unfamiliar cities.

“More than half of China can’t receive or send out goods. Thirty million trucker drivers are stranded during the deliveries,” reported by state-run Hubei Guangdianrong on April 9.

“I thought I could earn 2,000 yuan ($314) more on this trip … However, I have been stranded in Shanghai for 12 days and don’t know when I can leave,” state-run magazine China Entrepreneur quoted truck driver Wei, who was locked with two peers on the streets without basic living necessities.

“I spent over two weeks to finish a delivery that normally needs two days,” state-run Sanlian Life Weekly quoted trucker Lu on April 10, who couldn’t leave the highway after his delivery.

A 34-year-old male trucker cried in front of a group of strangers when was given two bowls of rice on a highway after being stranded for seven days, according to state-run Hangzhou News.

China’s zero-tolerance policy on COVID-19 closes service areas on highways where anyone has been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 14 days, doesn’t allow truck drivers to leave the highway if they pass by a city with reports of an outbreak, and doesn’t allow a driver to leave the cabin while the truck visits a city under COVID control.

Homeless in Shanghai

Wei, 39, owns a 42.7 foot truck which can load over 30 tons of goods. He and two other truckers received an order to ship nearly 100 tons of potatoes from Shandong Province to Shanghai on March 28.

“Because Shanghai reported a COVID-19 outbreak [when we received the order], and few drivers like to deliver to Shanghai, the delivery fee is 2,000 yuan ($314) higher than before … Normally I can earn 3,000 yuan ($471) for a Shandong—Shanghai delivery. This time, I thought I would earn 5,000 yuan ($785),” Wei told China Entrepreneur on Sunday.

When Wei arrived at Shanghai on March 29, the destination—a wholesale market—was shut down, and Wei and the other two truckers had nowhere to unload the potatoes. On the evening of the day, the potatoes’ owner arranged the truckers to stay inside a storage facility in Minhang district close to the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, where they met several other truckers who were in the same situation.

All restaurants, shops, and supermarkets in the city were shut down when we arrived. We lived inside the truck and tried to feed ourselves with the food we carried from Shangdong,” Wei said. The three truckers parked their vehicles inside the storage and lived inside.

In the following days, the owner tried to sell the potatoes and find some food for the three truckers. However, the entire population of the city couldn’t find enough food due to the lockdown.

With the approval of the owner, the three truckers on April 3 made a stove using a trashed iron bucket, searched for trash that could be burned, and started cooking the potatoes to feed themselves.

All potatoes were sold out on the evening of April 8,” Wei said. While they were relieved that they were free from the goods, they were subsequently kicked out of the storage area and made homeless.

We are waiting for the lockdowns to lift. We don’t know when the local government will allow us to leave,” Wei said. The potatoes’ owner set aside about 110 pounds of potatoes for the truckers, which would feed them for about six days.

Wei said they weren’t alone. A big number of truckers were living on the streets in Shanghai and waiting for the lockdown to lift.

Life On The Highway

Lu, 41, has been a trucker for 12 years. This is the first time he has been stranded on a highway for over two weeks.

I picked up an order in [southwestern China’s] Chongqing city on March 26 to ship aluminum plates to Shanghai,” Lu said. The plates were delivered to “a special government agent.”

Lu told Sanlian Life Weekly that he could arrive at Shanghai on March 28 if there were no COVID-policies. He had stayed at two different service areas in Zhejiang Province for days to wait for an entry permit to enter Shanghai although the goods he delivered were marked as high priority.

The Jiaxing Xincheng Service Area was full of trucks when I arrived there [on March 29]. I talked to other truckers and found out that most of them were delivering goods to Shanghai but couldn’t receive a pass,” Lu said.

Lu obtained a pass with a special arrangement on April 1, and delivered the goods and drove back to the highway with the pass. However, he realized that he could no longer pass a highway checkpoint if he wanted to leave the highway. Zhoukou in Henan Province and Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province had recently reported outbreaks, and he had passed these two cities in the last 14 days. As a result, the cellphone-generated health code—the system with which the Chinese regime tracks people’s travel, vaccination, and test histories—had raised his COVID status to two stars, meaning he was no longer allowed to leave the highway.

I stopped at Pingwang Service Area in Suzhou city in Jiangsu … More than 200 trucks were stranded there,” Lu said. He quickly teamed up with two other truckers to cook together and play cards to pass the time.

The service area supplied very limited food with sky-high prices. Lu and other truckers figured out that residents from nearby villages sell food to truckers late at night. Lu said that this kind of trade isn’t allowed by the regime, but the price was fair and they could order in advance.

It’s like spies transmitting intelligence. They packed the food in plastic bags with our fake names’ tags on them, and put the bags beside the road. We paid online and picked up the bags when the night was very dark,” Lu said.

On April 9, Lu’s COVID health status had returned to green and he was allowed to leave the highway. He picked up an order from nearby Kunshan township and experienced another ordeal.

The staff at the highway checkpoint sealed my cabin’s doors and windows after I received a negative COVID-19 test result. And I wasn’t allowed to leave the checkpoint until the goods’ owner came to pick me up,” Lu said.

Lu couldn’t open his cabin’s door or window until the goods’ owner loaded the truck and accompanied his truck to the same checkpoint. After the staff checked the seals weren’t broken, Lu was allowed to enter the highway, open his windows, and roll to the destination.

Lu said he witnessed many truckers crying or depressed while stranded on the highway. He tried to encourage himself because he had two teenage children at home who were waiting for him and his income.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: china; chinavirus; lockdown; supplychain; truckers
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To fellow truckers here- we’ve got it easy.
1 posted on 04/12/2022 11:09:36 AM PDT by datura
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To: datura

Another reason to prep, if one can.

Who knows when the next lockdown is coming?


2 posted on 04/12/2022 11:12:00 AM PDT by SaveFerris (The Lord, The Christ and The Messiah: Jesus Christ of Nazareth - http://www.BiblicalJesusChrist.Com/)
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To: datura

What is really going on over there? This stuff doesn’t make sense.


3 posted on 04/12/2022 11:12:17 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: datura

They are outdoing Australia and maybe even Canada!


4 posted on 04/12/2022 11:14:03 AM PDT by lee martell (u)
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To: hinckley buzzard
What is really going on over there? This stuff doesn’t make sense.

Probably a more deadly variant escaped the Wuhan Lab.

5 posted on 04/12/2022 11:14:11 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: datura

Source article shows the mix of American semis seen on the Vietnamese side of the border waiting to get into China. There are lots of Internationals, Peterbilt, KW, and Freightliners in Vietnam, but none in a China.

The image shown is from Getty, so I can’t post it here.


6 posted on 04/12/2022 11:14:30 AM PDT by datura (Eventually, the Lord and the Truth will win.)
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To: datura
Has the CCP finally flipped their wig?
Can we expect their economy to sputter with all of their draconian lockdowns and blockades?
7 posted on 04/12/2022 11:14:42 AM PDT by Psalm 73 ("You'll never hear surf music again" - J. Hendrix)
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To: hinckley buzzard

China has gone further mad than anyone else.


8 posted on 04/12/2022 11:15:14 AM PDT by datura (Eventually, the Lord and the Truth will win.)
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To: datura

It is called population control. Of course you will never find out how many died in the latest plandemic.


9 posted on 04/12/2022 11:17:49 AM PDT by mosaicwolf
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To: datura

Sounds purposeful to put maximum pain and pressure on USA supply chains.


10 posted on 04/12/2022 11:19:46 AM PDT by imabadboy99
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To: datura

Chinese have abysmally low vitamin D levels, This is giving them Covid.xyz problems. They are indoors all day, slaving away for Apple etc. Taking no D3 supplements. Getting little natural sunlight, they are missing out on this D3 source.

In the USA and Europe, we have a culture of outdoor activities. Plus many people do take D3 supplements. I take them and my D3 levels are 75 ng/ml last I got blood work.


11 posted on 04/12/2022 11:21:02 AM PDT by dennisw
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To: mosaicwolf

Or any part of the plandemic - to China this is a competition to save face. Their numbers are “lower” so their approach must be the correct one in their twisted minds.

The CCP is the definition of evil, far beyond the old USSR.


12 posted on 04/12/2022 11:21:30 AM PDT by datura (Eventually, the Lord and the Truth will win.)
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To: lee martell

“They are outdoing Australia and maybe even Canada!”

Australian and NZ dumbasses slavishly emulated the original CCP lockdowns from Feb 2020. I used to have a high opinion of these two nations.


13 posted on 04/12/2022 11:24:45 AM PDT by dennisw
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To: hinckley buzzard
What is really going on over there? This stuff doesn’t make sense.

If you can figure out how the government pigs personally benefit from this you will have your answer. I don’t see how this can enrich the pigs and while commies are morally capable of starving Shanghai in order to protect themselves from the 99.99% survivable covid, I would think they would weigh the consequences to their pocket book. That makes me worry maybe there is something worse than COVID loose in that city.

14 posted on 04/12/2022 11:25:53 AM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: imabadboy99

Sounds purposeful to put maximum pain and pressure on USA supply chains.

Is there anything China provides that we really need and can not get somewhere else?


15 posted on 04/12/2022 11:25:56 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
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To: datura

Well, it’ll be good fer da Erf................


16 posted on 04/12/2022 11:26:57 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: hinckley buzzard

My guess is there has been another ‘escape’ from the labs...............


17 posted on 04/12/2022 11:27:44 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: datura

Some people say that the Latin countries are dramatic people who make problems worse.

After watching Asian television and seeing issues like this in the news, the Latins are British compared to the Asians and their dramas.


18 posted on 04/12/2022 11:27:45 AM PDT by Chickensoup ( Leftists totalitarian fascists are eradicating conservatives)
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To: dennisw

Very true - my wife finally has her sisters in Shanghai taking the Zelenko style protocol supplements for Covid. (And they have remained vax free.)


19 posted on 04/12/2022 11:29:51 AM PDT by datura (Eventually, the Lord and the Truth will win.)
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To: datura

Kill off their own people to impact American consumers?
Maybe a win win for the CCP.
Sounds like the CCP’s MO.


20 posted on 04/12/2022 11:30:00 AM PDT by hadaclueonce ( This time I am Deplorable )
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