Ports in southern China impacted by Covid-19 lockdowns that are further disrupting the global box trade have seen a significant slump in container availability in the last two weeks, according to the latest data from Container xChange, an online platform for container logistics.
Pearl River Delta port productivity has slumped in recent weeks with container lines citing positive Covid-19 cases for slowing productivity.
Yantian and Shekou ports, near Shenzhen, and Nansha port, part of the Guangzhou box hub, have been most affected with all three seeing significant drops in container availability in the last two weeks, according to Container xChange, an online platform for the leasing and trading of shipping containers.
“Far few empty boxes are arriving back to southern China as container lines skip calls and many shippers will likely face long delays or higher prices for equipment if they can’t avoid using the affected ports,” said Dr. Johannes Schlingmeiner, founder and CEO of Container xChange.
The company went on to say that Yantian has suffered a 19% drop in incoming containers between Week 17 and last week (Week 22), Nansha’s decrease in incoming containers over the same period was 16.4% and Shekou’s plunge was 29.6%.
Each of the ports also saw major week-on-week drops in incoming boxes with an average change between Week 21 and Week 22 of -4.1% at Yantian, -16.7% at Shekou and -10% at Nansha.
At Yantian, the Container xChange’s Container Availability Index (CAx) reading for a 40 ft dry container was 0.61 in Week 17, but fell to 0.47 in Week 22. At Shekou and Nansha similar drops were apparent over the same time period for most equipment types.
CAx is an index reading of below 0.5 means more containers leave a port compared to the number which enters, while above 0.5 means more containers are entering the port.
“Our forecasts suggest container availability at these ports in southern China will not increase in the coming weeks as more container lines cancel calls,” noted Dr. Johannes Schlingmeiner, who also expects increases in container prices in those areas.
