2022 COVID and port disruption

Port disruptions will continue to impact freight movement in 2022. Planning for unforeseen circumstances is critical. Review our frequently asked questions page that provides the most recent port disruption information. We also have planning guidance related to port disruptions here.

CHINA AND NINGBO

We could be facing the Covid restrictions in China all year. The government has a zero-tolerance policy. From this week’s Ship-co weekly update:

More cities in China are going into lockdown following the country’s zero-COVID policy. While container loading and discharge at Ningbo-Zhoushan port is operating normally, access to the port and bringing containers in and out of the port have been restricted because less than 25% of registered truckers have the required paperwork to access the terminals at Beilun.

The city of Xi’an in the west of the country has been under lockdown for (two weeks) and most transport including flights to the city are cut off. The city of Zhengzhou on the banks of the Yellow River is under partial lockdown. The city of Yuzhou has one million citizens under stay-at-home orders. Meanwhile, Hong Kong has imposed a two-week flight ban from eight nations – Australia Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines, the U.K., and U.S.

A report by Goldman Sachs suggested China will stick with its zero-Covid approach this year. “We doubt policymakers would eliminate quarantines before then. With transmission typically higher in the winter months, it’s possible that border restrictions could be kept largely intact until spring 2023,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote.

PORT OF LA/LONG BEACH

An article posted on JOC.com shares the current situation on the U.S. west coast:

COVID-19 positivity rates are climbing rapidly among longshore workers and office workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and while labor availability has not yet been affected, the head of the employers’ association said the worst is yet to come.
About 150 longshore workers on the West Coast were tested last Tuesday and about 100 of those were positive… which would mean a positivity rate of almost 67%. About 80 percent of those who tested positive were in Southern California.

The ILWU pledged that its members would continue to work through the virus, but the union will continue to place safety above all else.

“We are doing our best to keep cargo moving at the ports, but health and safety is our highest priority given the severe illness and death we have experienced on the docks,” Frank Ponce De Leon, ILWU coast committeeman, told JOC.com.

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