The situation further worsened the availability of shipping space and highlighted the lack of empty containers.
The June quarantine in one of the world’s busiest container ports, Yenchien in China, will be transferred to global supply chains as a domino effect. This is stated by Dun & Bradstreet in its study. It assumes that, given the duration, the impacts will be greater than in the case of the several-day blockade of the Suez Canal in the spring of this year.
According to a study, the reduced capacity of the Chinese port in Europe affected the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Sweden and Denmark the most. The ten types of goods most frequently transported from the port of Jen-tien to Europe include audiovisual equipment, furniture and bedding, toys and games, mechanical equipment, footwear, clothing, steel, ceramics, metals and related metal products.
The most affected industries include the food trade, clothing, electrical equipment and components, furniture, building materials, hardware and construction.
Any incident that affects any of the links in the global supply chain reinforces the reality of the interconnectedness of companies around the world and their dependence on the reliability of suppliers and third parties from other countries, says Dun & Bradstreet. Unlike the Suez Canal, which remained blocked for six days, the reduced-capacity port of Jen-tien operated for about a month.
“China’s paralyzed port reminds companies to invest in data and technology to help them create an agile and geographically dispersed supply chain that can quickly replace unrealized deliveries during unexpected events.” said Dun & Bradstreet, Third Party Risk and Compliance Director Brian Alster.
The Yenien International Container Terminal is one of many ports in the Shenzhen area, which together form a key gateway for exports from the Pearl River Delta. This area is also an important center of industry and technology in China. However, since the end of May, the terminal has been operating at a fraction of its normal capacity; due to the spread of coronavirus, activity there was limited until the end of last week. The result was downtime and congestion, with dozens of ships waiting in front of the port until they could dock at the loading site.
ČTK
Jan Bláha, director of the forwarding division of the logistics company PST CLC, comments on the situation for the daily Zdopravy.cz:
Jan Bláha. Source: PST CLC
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The capacity reduction of the port of Jen-tien reached up to 70 percent of traffic, and some media reported information about a complete shutdown for several days. As a result of this restriction, the surrounding ports in the Pearl River Delta, such as Nansha or Shekou, are congested, where shipowners have diverted their ships.
This situation has further aggravated the availability of shipping space and increased the shortage of empty containers in the area. The containers lie either loaded or empty in the port of Jen-tien. The delay caused increases the circulation time of the containers. We offer our clients alternative modes of transport, such as rail and, more recently, increasing road transport from China.
Unfortunately, rail transport is also reaching its limits and facing a number of difficulties, from a lack of empty containers to a lack of wagons to congestion at terminals and border crossings. The result is an extension of the transit period by seven to ten days.
Overall, the situation is very much reflected in the growth of rates in maritime transport, where the growth trend is almost copied by prices in rail transport. Market reports indicate that prices could soon attack the $ 20,000 per 40´ container in the direction from southern China to Europe.
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