More freight delays are expected in China this week, after typhoon In-Fa forced the closure of Shanghai’s container port and airport over the weekend. The typhoon first made landfall in the city of Zhoushan, China’s eastern province of Zhejiang on 25 July. Schools, markets, and businesses were closed ahead of landfall and more than 1.5 million people evacuated.
Warehouses have also stopped container loading and deliveries to terminals. Strong winds produced by the storm were also felt in the city, where about 360,000 people were evacuated and all inbound and outbound flights cancelled for its two international airports.
All of Shanghai’s ports and some in neighbouring regions remain shut after closing over the weekend due to the extreme weather. The idled ports include Yangshan, part of the world’s biggest cluster of container terminals, which sits offshore to the south of Shanghai.
The port stoppages will affect deliveries of container goods, oil products, liquefied natural gas and bulk shipments like grains.
According to reports, there is a lot of air cargo stuck at Pudong, and carriers are unlikely to recover flight schedules until Wednesday. As a consequence, this week’s rates have increased greatly and, moreover, the available space is very little. Cargo is being re-configured to other terminals in China, but it is expected that this will add more pressure on the service, which already has equipment shortages and limited space.
The typhoon also affected the electricity supply, with some residents of Pudong and Minhang districts complaining of blackouts to the Shanghai branch of the State Grid Corporation of China, a state-owned utility company.
Overall, Typhoon In-Fa is adding to the shipping delays and additional costs that we have been reporting on over the past few weeks.
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