Container volume at major Chinese ports dropped last week

Affected by the shortage of cargo resources, the average container cargo volume at major Chinese ports declined in the past week, especially the ports at Pearl river delta. Recent weeks have seen major lines starting to blank large numbers of sailings between Asia and Europe/US as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts demand in Western countries.

Meanwhile, the three hub ports along Yangtze river, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing’s cargo throughput kept growth last week and posted an increase of 9.5%.

As the end of 1 April, the berth resumption ratio of Wuhan, the epicentre of the orginal outbreak, reached 100%, and the cargo volume recovered to 60% comparing to the same period of last year.

China Ports & Harbors Association warns severe challenges on container sector due to the spread of COVID-19 globally. The association forecasts 10%-15% decline of container throughput at foreign-trading hub ports in the second quarter of this year.