One of the largest seaports in China – Yantian – was closed and did not accept ships from May 21 to June 25 due to another outbreak of the coronavirus. Although, in fact, no one got sick, however, a number of workers showed the presence of the virus.
At present, the work has been resumed, but during the stop, in the port itself and on ships awaiting unloading at the roadstead, over 750 thousand TEU of container cargo has accumulated. A significant part of them (about 90%) are electronics, computer equipment and components. Because of this, supply disruptions occurred at a number of factories in China, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, and even production was suspended.
Also, the closure of the Yantian port was one of the reasons for the rise in freight rates. Compared to last autumn, the cost of shipping a 40-foot container from China to Europe increased 4.5 times – up to 11 thousand US dollars.
Now the port services are working with the accumulated cargo at an accelerated pace. It is expected that it will take 2-3 months to overcome all the consequences of the work stoppage.
