Affected by the epidemic emanating from many places, in February and March this year, China's import and export cargo volume dropped by 12.5% and 12.9% year-on-year, and the import cargo volume in March was 384 million tons, down 15.1% compared with the same period last year; the export cargo volume in March was 139 million tons, down 8.9% compared with the same period last year.
Since the prevention and control of the epidemic, as an important port bearing one quarter of the country's import and export volume, the Port of Shanghai launched the emergency plan for the prevention and control of the epidemic and the production and operation guarantee program, and made every effort to ensure the normal and orderly operation of the port. But with the complex development of the epidemic situation, the situation was complicated by the shutdown of manufacturing industries and the obstruction of logistics.
First of all, due to the decline of manufacturing manufacturers' shipments, the market performance will indeed be impacted in the short term, and it is expected that the container transport industry will also be affected by the prevention and control policy and the efficiency of cargo transportation between places as the performance of the manufacturing industry declines. For example, the truckers responsible for transportation are also restricted, and the normal delivery of goods from factories around the country to the port has become more difficult.
In addition to this, transshipment, unloading and shipping at the port of Shanghai began to slow down. The closure and control of personnel and the slowdown of cargo flow under the epidemic affected the flow of goods of large and small international trading companies in Shanghai. However, as the epidemic situation developed in a complex manner, the situation was complicated by the shutdown of manufacturing industries and the disruption of logistics. The result of all these factors is that the amount of goods that can be exported has decreased. Data show that by April 15, the average 14-day sea shipments from the port of Shanghai dropped by more than 20% compared to the previous month.
Due to the recent slowdown in transshipment shipments from Shanghai port, many inland suppliers have started to choose to send their cargo to other ports for shipping, especially Ningbo port, which is close to Shanghai port. On a port-by-port basis, the throughput of the Shanghai port, which remains closed, was down 8% compared to the same month of the previous year. On the other hand, Ningbo port, which is close to Shanghai, saw a 27% increase.
The situation is that most of the goods from inland suppliers will be sent to Ningbo port for shipment unless they are specifically requested to Shanghai port, so the logistics from inland to Ningbo becomes very tight and the transportation price also rises wildly. Originally we only need to book the delivery vehicle with the logistics company one day in advance, but now we need to book at least one week in advance. There are also long queues of delivery vehicles in front of the Ningbo warehouse, and the storage and stacking fees have increased.
For customers in Southeast Asia, we now also recommend shipping from Shenzhen to shorten the shipping time.
