Yantian Port is set to resume normal operations on June 24 after a month-long disruptions due to a Covid-19 outbreak that sharply reduced capacity in the key South China gateway. 

Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) said in a note that full operation will start midnight of Thursday with effective controls for the coronavirus set to be in place at port areas.

“Currently, Covid-19 has been effectively under control in the port area, and the operation capacity of the terminals have steadily recovered,” YICT said.

“It is now decided that from 00:00 on June 24, YANTIAN will resume full operations,” it added.

All berths — including the west port area, which was closed from May 21 to June 10 — will resume normal operations. The number of laden gate-in tractors will also be raised to 9,000 per day from 8,000 last week and 6,000 initially, and the pickup of empty containers and import laden containers will return to normal.

Hutchinson Ports Yantian said all berths “will essentially resume normal operations.” The set-up of accepting export laden containers will also be up to seven days in advance of a vessel’s scheduled arrival.

Maersk said separately that the Port of Yantian is gradually increasing productivity as more workers return and more berths reopen. “We welcome the diminishing queue, but schedule reliability remains compromised,” it told its customers.

One of China’s busiest ports, Yantian typically handles more than 40,000  twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) a day. Port officials noted that last fall, container throughput at Yantian exceeded 1.46 million TEUs in September, breaking the global monthly record for a single terminal run by one port operator.

China's Global Times said in its report that the backlog of containers at the ports will be cleared soon noting that  “exports during July and August are expected to show a rebound.”

Lars Jensen, CEO of container consultancy Vespucci Maritime, said separately that it will take Yantian some 82 days to clear the existing backlog plus all the cargo scheduled to call at the port in the coming weeks.

A Covid-19 outbreak among dockworkers at Yantian in May have caused major delays to the world's largest single container terminal putting further pressure on the already fragile shipping industry. 

Port officials said that they would continue to implement strict measures designed to control the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, operations at nearby Nansha Port is still suspended for an estimated two more days.

Chinese state-owned Xinhua News said separately that the activities of the 20 berths in the port's central and western sections all resumed, reaching a total turnover of 33,000 TEUs.

On the morning of June 24, 13 international routes also docked at the port.