China – Latest On Covid Disruption

China is now fighting its biggest Covid crisis since the initial outbreak in 2020. Over 3,000 cases were reported Sunday, which doubled from the day before, resulting in around 17 million residents being forced into lockdown.

While the number of cases seems low to what we have witnessed in the UK, China has operated a zero tolerance approach to the virus and the latest outbreak has resulted in hotspot lockdowns throughout the country.

Logistically, the most impacted cities are Shenzhen and Shanghai. While the ports of Shanghai, Shenzhen and Yantian remain open, all non essential industry has been forced to work from home between 14th-21st March.

During this period public transport is shut down and truck drivers need to pass 24 or 48 hour nucleic acid tests for factory and port loading/unloading. In short, major disruption is expected.

Most other ports are expected to be operating slowly as China reacts stringently to the latest outbreak. In fact, our Chinese trade team report that ‘the only major ports likely to be operating normally during the next week or so are Xiamen and Ningbo’. 

Atlantic Pacific  are monitoring the situation closely. Should you require further information, then please do not hesitate to contact one of the team.