Vessels which are looking to avoid Covid-induced delays in China are making a detour trip to Shanghai, adding to growing congestion at the world’s biggest container port. 

Various shipping firms and logistics companies are switching from the affected Ningbo port which had suspended some services to Shanghai as well, adding on the already overloaded backlog , and also to Xiamen.

Rising shipping costs in a year riddled with supply-chain disruptions are already starting to brace for more challenges.

The huge influx of vessels into Shanghai port has delay all sailing schedules for container ships by about a week and more and these delays may then ripple outward to already backlogged gateways in U.S. and Europe.

In Shenzhen itself, truckers have to contain the outbreak which means a queue had been formed and caused the terminal in Sekou to start restricting and limiting the acceptance of goods , which means full containers can only be trucked in a few days before vessels are due for arrival as per terminal operators.

The global port congestion issue will continue to impact restocking cycles this quarter, alongside the omicron breakout and the impending Chinese New Year closures in China.