What’s next after “Shanghai Shutdown” pummels ports?

CargoBarn is adding capacity at ports in anticipation of what’s to come in the fall.

Nearly every media outlet – from The Wall Street Journal to the Gwinnett Daily Post – is talking about Chinese ports shutting down due to recent COVID flare-ups and China’s strict COVID policies. The world’s largest seaport in Shanghai has been especially hard-hit. At one point, an estimated 90 percent of trucks were not allowed into the Port of Shanghai to help keep containers moving. (Imagine those demurrage charges?)

Worldwide container shipping and the supply chain as a whole have felt the reverberations from the “Shanghai Shutdown.” But the shutdown’s impact will last for months, experts say. In the southern U.S. state of Georgia, for example, 10 percent of the freight imported through its port in Savannah comes from Shanghai, said Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch. “Thirty-five percent of our trade is with China (and) other ports in China are disrupted right now (because of COVID),” Lynch said in a speech to the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce.

While the backlog in Chinese ports will eventually clear, the effects on domestic ports and intermodal shipping will be long-lasting. The current slow-down of ships coming into U.S. ports is temporary. A major impact is coming later in the year as retailers scramble to get imported goods into their stores and warehouses.

CargoBarn is already ramping up capacity with the hundreds of carrier partners in our network in anticipation of what is to come in the fall. Call us for all your drayage needs.