The resurgence of COVID-19 in China has now affected Shanghai. The city of 26 million will be locked down in two phases for mass testing – the Pudong financial district and areas east of the Huangpu river from Monday, March 28 to Friday, April 1 in Phase 1, and west of the Huangpu River for five days from Friday, April 1 to Tuesday, April 5 in Phase 2. Residents will be barred from leaving their homes, and public transport is suspended, with private cars only allowed to make necessary journeys. All firms and factories are to suspend production, with people to work from home apart from those involved in essential services and food supply. Bloomberg reported that Tesla would be stopping operations at its plant. Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) said that during the lockdown period, the port would ensure normal operations and provide 24 hours services at all its port production units. However, landside infrastructure and transport links to and from the port will be disrupted.
Container truck drivers must provide a negative COVID test result taken in the last 48 hours. Many expressway entries have also been locked down, and truck drivers have limited access to the city. During the recent lockdown in Shenzhen, South China ports remained operating relatively normally, however, experienced yard congestion and queues of ships built up due to landside transport and infrastructure restrictions similar to those now in place in Shanghai. While some FCL dray carriers are still operating within Shanghai, LTL trucks are not allowed to enter Pudong. As a result, we feel that there will likely be a significant impact on LCL cargo.
For more information, please call Debbie McGuire, Director – Freight Solutions at (905) 882-4880, ext. 1308.
