Global shipping was heavily impacted last week after the Meidong container terminal at Ningbo, China was partially closed on Wednesday 11 August 2021. The Meidong terminal is one of the busiest ports for world cargo, and handled the equivalent of 5.44 million 20ft containers last year.
A single covid 19 case led to the port suspending all lift off services, container ships were being diverted to Shanghai which has reported its highest congestion levels in 3 years.
This is the second time in recent months that a single covid-19 case has led to a port shut down, with China’s Yantian port suffering weeks of congestion due to enforced closures under covid protocols.
The Covid disruption adds to the supply chain challenges in recent months caused by falling output due to extreme weather and labour scarcity, which all feed into rising freight costs which could continue into mid 2022.
The China-to-Europe freight spot rate is currently nearly $14,000. UK retailers are also reporting that they are suffering long delays in shipping times, which have increased from 30 days to between 60-90 days.
If you have any questions about how best to manage the impact of rising freight costs for your business, please do feel free to contact us at Tudor International Freight, on 0333 1234 747 or email sales@tudorfreight.com.