Residents in China’s third largest city have been ordered to stay home following a spike in COVID-19 cases, sparking fears of congestion.
China is facing its latest wave of COVID-19 outbreaks as cases have surged nationwide. Many people expect this to be the worst spike to hit the country yet.
A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) has now closed its warehouses in Shenzhen until the lockdown is lifted.
Warehouse operations in Shanghai and Qingdao are still active and vessel calls and departures from the Port of Shenzhen will remain unchanged.
According to the National Health Commission, there was a total of 1,337 locally transmitted cases and 788 local asymptomatic cases in more than a dozen provincial-level regions on 13 March.
The Jilin province is amongst the worst affected areas, reporting 895 confirmed domestically transmitted cases. The region has since been placed under closed management to contain the spread of the virus.
The city of Shenzhen has been placed under full lockdown after 75 positive cases were confirmed. Bus and subway systems have been suspended, and businesses, except those providing essential services, are now closed until 20 March.
The Municipal Health Commission only recorded seven cases in the city on 23 February.
The news has sparked congestion concerns as similar outbreaks in May 2021 resulted in long vessel queues around the Ports of Yantian and Shekou.
The delays led to major shipping lines such as Ocean Network Express (ONE) omitting the ports from its regular services to minimise schedule disruption.
The Port of Shenzhen was also recently listed as one of PTI’s ‘Top 10 Ports in China 2021’.
The port handled a total of 23,790,000 TEU in 10M 2021, a 10.7 per cent increase year-on-year.
