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China’s Shanghai lockdowns have California ports bracing for shipping chaos, supply-chain ‘hiccups’

  • If China’s disruptive lockdowns persist, they could fuel global inflation, slow the pace of exports shipped from the ‘world’s factory’, and weaken demand in the world’s largest consumer market, economists say
  • Locking down Shanghai has had a major impact on the world’s largest container port, and shipping lines are struggling to adapt

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Congestion at Bay Area seaports off the California coast has forced some freighters to moor mid-bay. Photo: Getty Images
Ralph Jenningsin Oakland, California

Nine elongated black ships loomed against the backdrop of a pinkish-orange sunset over San Francisco Bay on a recent weeknight.

There they waited, as freighters have been forced to moor mid-bay amid congestion at Bay Area seaports that has snarled shipping.

The scene, rife with uncertainties, could become increasingly familiar as lockdowns in Shanghai, home to the world’s largest container port, have prompted marine shipping lines to change course as they struggle to access a major cargo hub that is so closely tied to China’s huge manufacturing centres.

Two years of supply-chain disruptions caused by the pandemic had already backed up ships in San Francisco Bay.

Shanghai’s lockdowns have not yet had an impact on the bayside Port of Oakland, which took steps over the past two years to mitigate disruptions.

The port, which handled 2.44 million 20-foot-equivalent units last year, has brought on 950 casual longshore workers to help process cargo ships, so those waiting in the bay can be serviced faster, said Andrew Huang, the port’s manager of business development and international marketing.

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