Operations at Ningbo Meishan port terminal may partially resume soon as no new cases of Covid-19 were detected since operations were suspended on August 11 after a single case of coronavirus was reported among the Ningbo Meidong Container Terminal staff.

In a statement, shipping and logistics analyst project44 said the Ningbo-Zhoushan port — the world’s third busiest port — began to turn ships away on the morning of August 11. 

"Port authorities had previously signaled a possible reopening date of September 6th but if a phased reopening begins this week to tackle the backlog, a full resumption of operations may be possible by the beginning of September," project44 said, adding that the Meishan Island terminal handles about one quarter of the port’s container cargo.

"Since the closedown began, nearly all inbound and outbound container operations at Meishan terminal in Ningbo-Zhoushan port had been redirected to other terminals since the morning of the 11th, demonstrating that the sheer size of the facility has helped it absorb much of the container volume," it added.

Data provided by project44 confirms that a large volume of container ships (41 as of August 17th) at anchor are waiting for berth space outside Ningbo-Zhoushan.  

According to project44 data, the average number of weekly port calls to Ningbo -Zhoushan had plummeted 22% from nearly 188 container vessels to 146 last week which coincides with the volume of container cargo the Meishan island port terminal handles.  

It said ocean carriers are diverting to other terminals, however, blank sailings to the port did not spike as they did following the Yantian Port closure in May.

project44 recorded only 15 blank sailings to Ningbo-Zhoushan on August 17th , which is in line with average Blank Sailings at the port.    

Meanwhile, total nominal vessel TEU capacity calling at Ningbo has dropped from 620,592 TEU to 572,052 TEU, signaling only  a 7.8% decrease from August 11th to the 16th.

Total nominal TEU capacity for vessels mooring at Ningbo dropped from 168,520 TEU to 103,064 TEU signaling a decline of 39% decrease from August 11th to the 16th.

"Note, the previous major drop was due to the Typhoon that hit the region in late June. According to port authorities, the port processed and averaged about 77,000 TEU a day in the last days, which was only 10% lower than what it averaged in July," project44 added.

The analyst said since July 20, the number of newly reported cases of COVID-19 has compelled the Chinese government to re-enforce restrictions to reduce the surge in the spread.  

It said most ports in the country ask for a nucleic acid test (NAT) for the entire crew with vessels anchored until negative results are confirmed.  Many ports in the country have also made it compulsory for vessels to quarantine for 14-28 days if they were previously berthed in India or were part of any crew change process within 14 days of arriving in China.  

"This is the second shutdown of at a major Chinese port after the Yantian Port closure in Shenzhen for over a month in May after a sudden virus outbreak, stoking initial fears of additional supply chain disruptions in the run-up to Black Friday and Christmas shopping seasons," project44 said.

However, according to project44 data, the effects of the Ningbo shutdown are not nearly as significant as the Yantian shutdown.