Chinese Port congestion likely to cause supply chain delays

COVID lockdown’s in China are continuing to wreak havoc with port congestion in China’s main Ports and subsequent worldwide trade. According to Bloomberg, a backlog of up to 500 container ships are waiting to enter the ports.

Major Chinese cities including Shanghai are currently following strict lock downs to lower infection rates. China’s zero COVID policy implemented by President Xi Jinping has meant that a reduction in labour at both ports and the surrounding supply-chain has caused bottlenecks.

Undoubtedly this will impact international supply-chains including the UK, with China being the largest exporter of consumer goods to the UK and mainland Europe. Further data compiled by Ocean Network Express estimate 10pc of container vessels worldwide remain stuck in congestion.

With shipping time from China to the UK up to 2 months, it may be July / August before the bottleneck pressures will be felt in the UK.

Martin Fryer

Martin Fryer is Managing Director of a specialist haulage company as well as a qualified transport manager with experience across multiple different industries. He holds a BA (Hons) in Logistics and is a chartered member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport.

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