Shanghai’s lockdown easing doesn’t mean the end to shipping snarls in the world’s largest container port

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The container ships spotted in the Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan region is still 11 per cent above last year’s median, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg

There’s a queue of 130 vessels waiting off the world’s biggest port in Shanghai, while the number off Shenzhen and Hong Kong hit a seven-month high of 184 vessels

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Bloomberg

Published: 2:00pm, 19 May 2022Updated: 1:06pm, 31 May 2022

China appears to be gradually easing its lockdown of Shanghai, but that won’t bring immediate relief to global supply-chain congestion, according to a major shipping company.

Shortages of rail, port and trucking workers in China and the US need to get resolved quicker than is currently happening as they are delaying ships at the world’s major ports, said Jeremy Nixon, chief executive officer of Ocean Network Express.

“Every government is doing their best to address the issue, but labour shortages still exist and infrastructure shortages still exist,” Nixon said in an interview Tuesday. “We’re putting more ships into service, but we can’t magic up more when we’re running out.”

The world’s supply chains have taken a battering this year from China’s zero-Covid policy, which has hampered the production and delivery of everything from bathroom taps to Apple iPhones. At the same time, trucker and rail worker shortages in the US have made it difficult for industries to move their goods, prompting the Biden administration to step in.

A view of the Yangshan Deep Water Port outside Shanghai on May 17, 2022. Photo: Xinhua.

From Los Angeles to Hamburg, scores of containers ships are waiting for weeks to berth at ports, Nixon said. That wait is three weeks at Vancouver in Canada, and there’s currently a queue of 130 vessels waiting off the world’s biggest port in Shanghai, he said.