Prime Freight’s summary of a March 2022 report by Seatrade Maritime News. Read the original for the full story.
At the end of March 2022 Shanghai began a two-stage Covid lockdown, raising new concern about disruption around the world’s busiest container port.
Seatrade Maritime News reported that the city of 26 million would be closed in two halves for mass testing: Pudong and the districts east of the Huangpu river from 28 March to 1 April, then the western districts for five days. Residents had to stay at home, public transport stopped, and companies outside essential services and food supply were told to stop work, with Tesla’s factory among those halting.
Port operator SIPG said its terminals would keep running around the clock, but road access was the weak point. Truckers needed a negative test from within 48 hours, several expressway entrances were shut, and some logistics companies in the first zone stopped taking cargo. Woodlands Group said trucks from neighbouring provinces were being turned away and that less-than-truckload vehicles could not enter Pudong, which would hit LCL freight.
What it meant for shippers
A port can stay open while its roads close, and cargo still misses sailings when export boxes cannot reach the terminal and imports cannot be collected. Expecting rolled bookings and longer dwell times, and confirming trucking before releasing cargo, limited the damage.
What happened next
By early April the lockdown had been extended indefinitely, with no date given for lifting it (Splash247).