In the Chinese city of Ningbo, the authorities decided to close the Meishan terminal in Ningbo-Zhoushan, one of the busiest container ports in the world by cargo turnover. Bloomberg reports this.
The reason for the decision was a case of coronavirus detected in a port employee. According to the publication, initially, all processes with containers entering and exiting the port were suspended “due to a system failure.” Still, later, it became known that one of the workers was infected. Currently, all port employees who came into contact with a man infected with COVID-19 are in quarantine.
According to the calculations of a specialist of the consulting company GardaWorld, this terminal now accounts for about 25 percent of all port containers. He noted that such a ” suspension could seriously affect processing and shipment.”
According to the publication, a new “system failure” can cause an additional load on the process of delivering goods — it will slow down logistics operations, which will affect the price increase. In addition, the closure of the terminal “may be especially painful for the global economy,” since many companies often ship Christmas and holiday goods by sea on the eve of the New Year holidays.
In addition, the consequences for trading on “Black Friday” are also expected, said Josh Brazil, vice president of marketing at the logistics agency Project44. At the same time, he said that such delays in deliveries and instability are quite common for the whole of 2021.
