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The terminal, which had its operations interrupted, accounts, according to information from Bloomberg, for around 25% of the container loads that pass through the port. International maritime transport companies are already warning about the suspension causing travel delays and impacting cargo handling.
“This could compromise demand”, says Marcos Araújo, market analyst at Agrinvest Commodities. Not to mention that “container freight has exploded”, and should also be impacted by this news, especially at this time before, according to experts, a more intense shopping season leading up to the end of year festivities.
Recently, rates for a container from China or Southeast Asia to the east coast of the United States registered a record high of US$20,600 per 20-foot unit – the standard measurement for cargo containers in the Freightos Baltic Global Container Freight Index.
With the closure of the terminal, the waiting time for ships at Ningbo port could increase to between seven and nine days, compared to one to three when Meishan was still in operation. According to experts, the port should work on diverting cargo to other terminals as much as possible and try to optimize the work. Even so, congestion at the port is already expected to begin, given its importance on global maritime routes.
This is the second recent closure of a Chinese port in recent months. The port of Yantian, in Shenzen, was closed from the end of May until last month and also compromised supply chains, driving up sea freight, container costs and even forcing the return of goods to warehouses and factories.
According to information from the Taiwan News Agency, the closure of this terminal could cause congestion even worse than what is already observed in the port of Ningbo now, caused mainly by bad weather, in addition to issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic. and strong demand.
In 2020, the port of Ningbo Zhoushan handled 1.172 billion tons of the most diverse products, and for 12 consecutive years it has been the busiest port in the world, according to data from the Chinese Ministry of Transport. In terms of container handling, it remains in third place.
In the first half of 2021, the main items imported by the port were crude oil, chemicals, agricultural products and electronics. In exports, electronic, manufactured and textile products stood out.
Fertilizer analyst at Agrinvest Commodities, Jeferson Souza, warns about the possibility that the difficulty in supplying some products from China may intensify, but that the market does not yet seem to have reflected this news very aggressively. Even so, it advises maintaining follow-up.
By: Carla Mendes | Notícias Agrícolas
