After two weeks of quarantine: China reopens port terminal

An important terminal in China’s second largest container port was closed for two weeks due to a corona case. Now it will open again. The consequences for global supply chains are likely to be felt for weeks.

Local authorities have lifted all restrictions at the Meishan Terminal in the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Association. The work is now being resumed step by step. The important terminal should be fully available again from September 1st.

The Meishan Terminal was closed two weeks ago due to a single corona case. Almost 2,000 dock workers were quarantined. The port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, 250 kilometers south of Shanghai, is the second largest cargo port in China and the third largest in the world. 28 million standard containers are handled there every year, a fifth of them at the Meishan Terminal.

Terminal closure exacerbated supply chain problem

The temporary closure of the terminal had exacerbated problems in global supply chains. German shipping companies were also affected by delays.

Around 40 container ships are currently waiting to enter the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan. Some shipping companies had diverted their freighters to other ports in the past few weeks – for example to Shanghai. But there were also traffic jams there.

Normalization to be expected in weeks

Experts believe it will take several weeks for the situation to normalize. China has a strict zero-covid policy. As in Ningbo, individual corona cases can lead to closings and partial lockdowns.