We wanted to send on some further notices received today regarding the current situation at Yantian Port.

“The port of Yantian, serving 100 ships weekly as one of the busiest ports in the world, has been partially shut for the past week because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

Given that Yantian processed 13.34 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2020, this slowdown will further hit lean and struggling supply chains.

Estimates are that there are more than 20,000 TEU now backlogged in the port, with some sources saying as many as 50 or 60 ships are now anchored out.”

“There is ongoing congestion issue at the Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT) in Shenzhen, China, and yard density remains high. A number of COVID-19 cases had emerged at the port last week, and tightened health and safety measures have been rolled out by local authorities. The overall operation productivity at YICT has been adversely impacted, and we expect the current vessel berthing delays and port congestion situation will likely continue for at least a week.

Please be informed of the following measures by YICT to improve the current port congestion situation:

• Acceptance of export laden containers has resumed from 00:00 AM on 31 May. But please note that from 31 May to 6 June, only export laden containers with ETA-3 (i.e. within 3 days of the vessel’s Estimated Time of Arrival) will be accepted.
• Pick-up of import laden containers (mainly in the eastern area of the port) remains as per normal.

A number of vessels are expected to be omitting the Port of Yantian. As we expect that there will be some changes regarding the CY open/closing dates for the port, as well as release of empties during this period, please contact us for latest updates.”