VesselsValue Says Shanghai Port Congestion Remains at Seasonal Norms

Shanghai port congestion remains at normal season levels, even as COVID-19 lockdowns have been reimposed throughout much of the city, according to new data from VesselsValue.

Average wait times across vessel sectors—tankers, bulkers and containerships—has been falling steadily since peaking in late April at 65 hours as Shanghai re-emerged from two months of lockdowns. Despite lockdowns being reimposed in 13 of the city’s 16 districts, congestion is now back within normal levels.

Containerships, the most frequent users of the world’s largest port, reached a peak waiting time of 69 hours in late April at the height of the Omicron wave, but have since reduced back down to 2021 levesl and are currently trending around 34 hours and continuing to fall, according to VesselsValue.

Tankers and bulkers have experienced short-lived levels of heigtened congestion, however both have also returned to seasonal norms.

“As much of Shanghai re enters lockdown, factors such as staff absences that caused congestion to rise in early April do not appear to be such a significant problem this time. Instead, labour strikes in Germany are beginning to lengthen waiting times at Bremerhaven and Wilhelmsen, though curiously not yet at Hamburg,” VesselsValue said in its update.

VesselsValue ends its update posing the question: “Will Northwest Europe become the next big bottleneck for global supply chains?”