Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT) in China’s Shenzhen Port is taking in export-bound containers with an estimated berthing time of four days, as containers are accumulating in its yard as a result of disrupted shipping schedules.
YICT, part of Hutchison Ports, said in a notice on 19 January that the situation has become more pressing, as Chinese exporters are rushing to get their goods out before Chinese New Year on 1 February.
Such a move is not unprecedented. At the start of 2021, South Korea’s Busan port slashed the 10-day cut-off time for export-bound containers to enter the yard to three days.
Sea-Intelligence CEO, Alan Murphy, said in a recent note that congestion and bottleneck problems are worsening getting into 2022, and there is no indication of improvements as of yet. Covid-19-related testing and an increasing demand for container shipments saw liner operators’ schedule reliability fall to below 40% in 2021.
YICT said that the situation is such that ships are arriving seven days late, holding up container turnover in its yard.
“Under such circumstance, there are many laden boxes stuck inside the terminal and the yard density close to full scenario,” said YICT.
However, the gate-in quota will be kept at 12,000 laden containers.
Yantian processed 14.16 million TEU of containers in 2020, up 6% from 2020, notwithstanding disruptions caused by Cοvid-19. The Shenzhen Maritime Department said that to prevent Covid-19 transmissions, it has been encouraging contactless procedures as much as possible.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
