Following a weeklong lockdown, shipping companies are reopening their warehouses and offices in Shenzhen, China.
Last week, China’s third largest city was placed under lockdown after 75 positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed.
The latest wave of the virus has since subsided and normal life in the city resumed as of 21 March.
Following the lifting of restrictions, shipping line A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) reopened all of its warehouses in Shenzhen.
However, drivers have been requested to show both a health code and negative NAT report within 48 hours of cargo delivery.
Due to ongoing disruptions in the region, some Maersk vessels will also be omitting the Ports of Yantian and Shekou.
Even though it remained open throughout, the recent lockdown has led to a backlog of vessels of waiting to dock at the Port of Shenzhen.
According to several sources, 35 ships were waiting to berth on 20 March.
Similar outbreaks of COVID-19 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’.
