China: Lockdown End To Impact Capacity?

As Shanghai seemingly approaches the end of its lockdowns, there are rising concerns that a flood of exports are likely to squeeze capacity once more.

Following the heavy restrictions on the public, transport, and logistics during the past two months, the city’s export production has fallen dramatically.

Subsequently, vessel calls at the Port of Shanghai have been limited. Since mid-April, carriers have been choosing to route vessels to other ports and in some cases have blanked sailings altogether.

Industry experts have recently estimated that up to 260,000 TEU of export cargo was not shipped from Shanghai in April, because of the lockdown. If that’s accurate, then capacity needs to be found for this volume in the coming weeks.

If lockdown rules are significantly relaxed in the next week or two as expected, then much of this predicted backlog will be clashing with peak season orders.

Shanghai is the busiest port in the world and an eight-week lockdown is bound to have a significant impact. That said, the Asian market has become more and more difficult to predict since the outbreak of the pandemic, so any outcome is possible.

The trade teams at Atlantic Pacific are monitoring the situation closely and will update any major developments. In the meantime, should you require further information, then please feel free to contact us.