SIMIC

In addition, shippers face additional headwinds later this week when as the nation starts a nationwide five-day Labour Day holiday from April 30, which is likely to further stymie cargo movements on top of trucking and warehousing shortages as China battles a fourth Covid wave, reports IHS Media.

That comes as some carriers are starting to skip Shanghai on intra-Asia services even as cargo conditions improve in Shanghai as more warehouses reopen and restrictions are eased for the import of dangerous goods cargoes.

"A large proportion of the container cargo exports from Shanghai and Zhejiang province are now shipped via Ningbo. Consequently, Ningbo has become very congested," a senior executive at a Hong Kong-based freight forwarder said.

Highlighting the cargo increase, 14-day average ocean volumes through the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan surged 14 per cent, visibility provider FourKites said in its latest China lockdown and supply chain impact report published Monday.

"Most freight originating in Shanghai has diverted to Ningbo, causing congestion in several warehouses, and container constraints," a Maersk spokesperson said.

Both Ningbo and Shanghai will be among the ports affected by three blank sailings on the AE1 and AE55 services next month as Maersk grapples with restoring schedule reliability on the Asia-Europe trade, the carrier said Monday.

Vessel wait times at Ningbo have increased to around three or four days compared with less than 24 hours before the lockdown in Shanghai, a senior carrier executive said.

"Shanghai and Ningbo are both operating with low efficiency. Shanghai due to a lack of labour and Ningbo from congestion caused by increasing ad-hoc vessel calls and bad weather," said Danny Hoffmann, managing director of Hong Kong's Gold Star Line, the intra-Asia affiliate of Zim Integrated Shipping Services.