China: COVID-19 outbreak in Greater Bay Area

Anne Thiesen, Port of Hamburg Marketing’s Representative in Hong Kong, reports on the consequences of the most recent Covid-19 outbreak in China's Greater Bay Area.

The Corona pandemic continues to have a major impact on global transport chains. A new outbreak of the virus in southern China is currently causing major ports to almost completely shut down their handling operations. The mandated closing of large areas is already having a greater impact than the Suez Canal blockade. The Port of Yantian handled 13.3 million TEU in 2020, equal to 36,400 TEU per day.

Currently, the terminals in the port are only working at 30 percent operating efficiency. This means that around 25,000 TEU per day have not been handled. This also affects the Port of Hamburg. Ten liner services with ships carrying between 4,400 and 24,000 TEU connect the two ports. Last year, about a fifth of the direct traffic with China went via Yantian. Other ports in the Greater Bay Area such as Nansha and Shekou are also affected by the outbreak.