Sailing again: Container ships at the Yangshan deep water port in Shanghai. The port contributed more than half of the container throughput at Shanghai where traffic has soared more than 50% with easing of Covid-19 restrictions. — Bloomberg
SHANGHAI: Shanghai Port, the world’s busiest container port, has seen a rapid recovery in operating volume since June.
Even during the days when the city was hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak, transportation across the region was maintained thanks to the effective collaboration of ports and related organisations in the Yangtze River Delta region, showing the resilience of the area’s supply chain, said industry experts.
The amount of daily export declarations at Yangshan Deep Water Port, one of Shanghai Port’s main units, has soared more than 50% to 11,000 from the previous 7,000, China Securities Journal reported, citing data from Yangshan Customs.
Yangshan Port contributed more than half of the container throughput at Shanghai Port, which has been rated as the world’s largest container port for 12 consecutive years. The port’s container throughput volume exceeded 47 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2021.
Entering June, exports from East China rebounded, especially shipments to Asean, which is China’s biggest trading partner.
Export volume from Shanghai Port to South-East Asia has recovered to between 80% and 90% of that in March, according to YQNLink, a global intelligent logistics platform based in Shanghai.
Shanghai Port reported its container throughput amounted to 18.75 million TEUs between January and May, approaching the same volume of last year’s 18.85 million TEUs.
Daily container throughput at Shanghai Port has approached its normal level as of the middle of June, the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission said on its official WeChat account.
“With the city’s production and life coming back to normal, the city’s functions as an international shipping centre are being restored at an accelerated pace,” it added.
More than 20,000 employees of Shanghai Port working under closed-loop management at port areas have ensured the port’s normal operations around the clock, even during the period hit by Covid-19 outbreak.
“During the pandemic, some cargo was handled via surrounding ports, and others were shipped to Shanghai Port by water routes instead. The coordination between the region’s ports and related organisations has ensured the supply chain to and from Shanghai continues. And this is proof of the resilience of our supply chain, or to be more specific, logistics chain,” said Lin Guolong, director of the Logistics Research Centre at Shanghai Maritime University.
Lin said that at the beginning of building Shanghai into a global shipping centre, a highly developed water network across the Yangtze River Delta region had started planning and development.
Compared to other transportation methods like highways and high-speed railways that are also well developed in the region, water routes are more economical and environmentally friendly.
“What’s more important, the water network played an important role in supporting the supply chain during the pandemic,” Lin added.
“In April and May, many exporters along the Yangtze River ran into difficulties in delivering exported goods to Shanghai Port to meet the delivery schedule of their customers in South-East Asia, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
“We quickly found alternative solutions for those enterprises, which is to use feeder vessels to ship cargo to Shanghai Port from the closest port without increasing expenses,” said Zhou Shihao, founder and chief executive officer of YQNLink.
“The smooth replacement of highways with water routes cannot be realised without advanced digital platforms, which enable us to quickly connect and coordinate resources, and allow logistics to rotate with high efficiency during the pandemic,” Zhou said.
According to Zhou, YQNLink improved its digital operating system during the pandemic to efficiently match supply and demand at global ports, terminals, shipping operators and railways, helping quickly find alternative solutions.
Likewise, based on its more than 140 vessels and over 40 shipping lines along the Yangtze River, China Cosco Shipping Corp Ltd has launched an alternative service of water routes at 55 ports along the Yangtze River to ease the challenges that may occur during road transportation.
The group’s 95 ships operating along the nation’s coastal area are both responsible for the shipping of Covid-19 prevention goods and people’s livelihood materials, as well as exports, according to the Shanghai-based company.In the meantime, ocean-rail transportation was launched in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to solve the escalating shortage of container lorries. All these efforts were made in a bid to keep logistics moving freely along the supply chain.
Cosco Shipping also contributed its worldwide smooth coordination and operation to digital technology, online booking, eCommerce platforms, blockchain, as well as online filing, marketing and services, among others.
China Electrical Equipment Group Co Ltd is a beneficiary of the coordination along the supply chain and industrial chain.
Despite the impact of the pandemic, the group fully used its strength in supply and industrial chains to speed up its overseas development. As a result, the corporation saw its overseas market portion rise 5% in the first five months, in comparison with the same period in 2021.
In April and May, Eastern Air Logistics (EAL) carried 38.4 tonnes of raw materials urgently needed by a domestic high-tech enterprise, as well as equipment and facilities, helping the company to retain its raw materials and supply chain amid the Covid-19 outbreaks, said Yan Feixiang, vice-general manager of the marketing division with EAL.Thanks to EAL’s capabilities in transportation and high efficiency, they have aided many enterprises’ business restoration in this regard.
The carrier has conducted 1,308 flights carrying 44,000 tonnes of cargo in the first 20 days of June. Cargo flights resumed to 96% of the pre-pandemic level, Yan said.
At Shanghai’s two airports, EAL handled an aggregate of 93,468 tonnes of cargo and mail in the same period.
EAL is now fully enhancing its all-cargo aircraft utilisation and optimising flight networks to achieve a win-win situation for all parties along the aviation industrial chain, Yan said.
While striving to contain the spread of the virus, the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection is making equal efforts to maintain the smooth operation at ports for customs clearance. — China Daily/ANN
