SIMIC

China has prohibited crew changes for foreign crew and recently imposed a seven-week mandatory quarantine for returning Chinese seafarers.

Shipowners and managers have had to reroute ships in order to comply, delaying shipments and crew changes.

"China's restrictions cause knock-on effects," said International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) secretary general Guy Platten.

"Any restrictions to ship operations have an accumulative impact on the supply chain and cause real disruptions." said Mr Platten.

China is a significant hub for the shipping industry, with some of the strictest Covid crisis policies in the world.

Authorities recently locked down 34,000 people at Shanghai Disneyland for mandatory testing.

Meanwhile, factories and consumers are adjusting for a pandemic that's not going anywhere. Supply shortages are showing signs of easing in the US but worsening in the UK.

Some Asian ports are getting less congested, but loaded vessels are piling up in California.

Operating in China has become challenging even for the biggest operators.

Said Cargill global operations & supply chain director Eman Abdalla: "We've had vessels that ran into demurrage, we've had instances where we had to deviate, either before we call China, or after,"

"There are instances where the delays are within hours, but there are also instances where the delays could go on to days." said Mr Abdalla.