It is only a week since we last had to report on Typhoon Hinnamor casing havoc with shipping in China. Now another typhoon has prompted the ports of Shanghai and Ningbo to close – for the second time in 10 days – leaving freight forwarders expecting another round of shipping delays. Typhoon Muifa is on a direct path to hit Shanghai today (14 September). Although weaker than last week’s storm – which saw Shanghai, Ningbo and Busan all suspend operations – this one could have a bigger impact.
Typhoon Muifa has continued moving NW over the East China Sea, toward the coast of eastern China over the past 24 hours. It is expected to make landfall in Zhejiang Province today, with maximum sustained winds of 148 km/h, and pass over or very close to Shanghai – the most populated city in the world.
Before approaching China, Muifa brought heavy downpours and gale-force winds to Japan’s Okinawa, causing disruption to transportation services in the region. Over the next three days, gale-force winds will also lash coastal areas of Taiwan, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong and Liaoning, according to the forecast.
Shippers can expect at least two days’ impact on port operations, as the typhoon isn’t moving too fast. Ningbo’s container terminals and yards were already closed this morning. Shanghai’s Yangshan container terminals were due to stop gate-in handling last night, while both Waigaoqiao and Yangshan terminals will be fully closed today.
Shanghai and Ningbo are already dealing with increased berth congestion – vessels are waiting two-to-four days to berth at these ports due to last week’s Typhoon Hinnamor, and the impact from Muifa will be similar. Muifa was due to pass Shanghai in no more than a day, but inland trucking would still be risky during the typhoon’s impact.
Ships that were diverted to the Qingdao anchorage in Bohai to avoid the path of typhoon Hinnamnor last week are moving back to their scheduled windows at Shanghai and Ningbo, driving congestion at the two main eastern China ports to a record high of 885,000 TEU (20ft Equivalent Units) at anchorage last Thursday. Although the queue of vessels has dropped to 500,000 TEU by the end of the week, it will take another week before the ports work through the backlog of container ships.
We continue to monitor shipping in and out of China – including the delays being caused by all manner of events – and will provide updates as things unfold.
For information about containers and shipping schedules, talk to us here at Colless Young. As licensed Customs Brokers and International Freight Forwarders, we professionally handle all your consignments, both sea cargo and airfreight. We provide a complete range of import and export services, covering quarantine treatments, trucking and warehousing. We are based in Brisbane and offer logistics facilities through all Australian ports and airports.
