Operations at Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) in the port of Shenzhen have seen terminal capacity recover to 75% of normal levels, forwarders and carriers said on Tuesday June 22nd, up from 45% the previous Friday. The recovery had been achieved via the reopening of a fourth berth at the East Port area, which predominately serves long-haul services.
Yard density was down to 70% and YICT has eased restrictions on laden export containers; gate-in is now permitted seven days before vessel arrival, up from the three days restriction that had previously been imposed. YICT has also raised the number of trucks allowed into the terminal to 8,000 daily, up from 6,000 last week.
Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said on Monday that South China was a significant problem. “Ports like Shekou and Nansha are increasingly congested. Yantian has improved its operations, and in a week from today, we will be able to see how that function”. He noted that Yantian had a “huge” throughput, handling about 25% of China’s exports to the US. It has been operating at reduced levels since the end of May because of a localized Covid-19 outbreak.
CMA CGM told customers this week that a further 10 sailings would cut out Yantian until July 2nd. Alternative load ports included Nansha and Xiamen, the advisory said. The diversions include those on its Colsuez and Columbus JAX services.