FT: Port delays complicating post-pandemic bottlenecks

The nearly 100 ships waiting on the horizon to dock at the container ports of Hong Kong and Shenzhen are just the latest sign of supply chain problems that are driving up consumer prices in Europe and the United States and creating product shortages ranging from furniture to Christmas toys.

The delay off the coast of southern China is currently the worst in the world. A typhoon closed ports for two days last week – but while inclement weather often disrupts shipping, this occurrence has simply aggravated problems caused by the previous bottlenecks recorded since the start of the pandemic.

In August, a single case of Covid-19 paralyzed a terminal for 15 days in the large Chinese port of Ningbo, outside Shanghai. On the 13th, there were 584 container ships parked off the ports, almost double the number registered at the beginning of the year, according to real-time data from Kuehne+Nagel, one of the largest freight forwarders in the world.

Supply chains have been compromised from every angle and stalled at an unprecedented level,” says Simon Heaney, an analyst at maritime consultancy Drewry. “The problems are much deeper than what you see in ports.”

Increased demand for consumer products, Covid-induced destabilization of container ship schedules, and a shortage of port workers and truck drivers have all combined to extend waiting times at ports.

Source: Valor Econômico

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https://valor.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2021/10/17/ft-espera-nos-portos-complica-gargalos-ps-pandemia.ghtml

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