Closed by Covid outbreak, Ningbo container terminal reopens

PostTime:2021-09-06 09:00:58 View:579

THE Ningbo-Zhoushan port's Meidong container terminal has reopened two weeks after the facility was closed due to a Covid outbreak and one week after cargo operations resumed on a limited basis, reports IHS Media. Port officials said truckers could begin picking up containers, but their arrivals would be staggered to avoid congestion. There were 26 containerships at berth and at anchor at Ningbo, the third-busiest global container port, according to AISLive, an IHS Markit product. The Meidong terminal and free trade zone was closed August 11 after a carrier worker tested positive for COVID-19. Extensive testing of about 50,000 people in the area showed no further cases, according to local reports. The full opening of the marine terminal reassures container lines, forwarders, and shippers that the disruption will have a smaller impact than the closure of Yantian International Container Terminals in late June, which drove congestion through Southern Chinese ports. The Ningbo terminal is mainly used by the Ocean Alliance, comprised of Cosco Shipping/OOCL, CMA CGM, and Evergreen Line.

Ningbo Meishan terminal reopens following Covid lockdown

PostTime:2021-08-26 09:35:09 View:468

Meishan Island International Container Terminal (MSICT) at Ningbo-Zhoushan port reopened on 25 August after a lockdown started on 11 August. Katherine Si | Aug 25, 2021 The terminal at one of the world’s largest container ports caused by a Covid-19 Delta variant infection detected from a worker at the port. China is operating on a zero Covid policy with strict lockdowns put in place when infections are detected. According to a notice released by Meishan Bonded Area Port Affairs Administration, Meishan bonded area lifts the lockdown in the morning of 25 August. Related: Container availability and price warning for Ningbo and Vietnam ports All the units and companies in Meishan bonded area will fully support and handle the loading and unloading of stranded cargos while the import container pick-up services at Meishan terminal are gradually resuming. Container line CMA CGM said in customer advisory that MSICT had resumed partial operations on 18 August with two of its vessels alongside completing operations. However, at the time the yard remained closed. Related: Ningbo terminal closure and what if Covid hits more Chinese ports As the end of 24 August, there were some vessels had already berthed at Meishan terminal. MSICT is the second Chinese container terminal to be hit by a Covid-related lockdown and closure in recent months. In May and June Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT) suspended much of its operations causing major disruption to global supply chains. The impact of the Ningbo terminal closure has been considerably less on global container shipping line operations.

Partial reopening of Ningbo's Meishan Island Terminal in the next few days

PostTime:2021-08-20 08:42:24 View:507

SHIPPERS moving cargo via the Meishan Island Container Terminal at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port will be relieved to hear it will partially reopen within days, reports UK's The Loadstar. Original reports suggested a date of September 6 would be the earliest for the resumption of operations, but no new cases of Covid-19 have been detected. However, data company project44 said: "If a phased reopening begins this week to tackle the backlog, full resumption of operations may only be possible by the beginning of September." Currently, project44 reports there are 41 ships at anchor awaiting a berth and cargo handling at the Meishan terminal, but added that the number of port calls missed was not as significant as thought - on average the terminal receives 188 calls a week, which had slumped 22 per cent to 146 as carriers diverted to other terminals. But only 15 blank sailings have been reported. "Nominal TEU capacity for vessels mooring at Ningbo dropped from 168,520 TEU to 103,064 TEU, signalling a decline of 39 per cent from August 11-16," said project44 According to port authorities, Ningbo has processed an average of around 77,000 TEU a day over the past few days, only 10 per cent lower than its average in July. Maersk Line announced that ships in its vessel-sharing agreement with CMA CGM on its AC6 Asia to South America service, will omit calls at the Meishan terminal for the remainder of August. This includes cargo on the APL Barcelona, Seaspan Oceania, CMA CGM Musca, APL Le Havre and Hanover Express. The Danish carrier has rearranged cargo to be handled on the CMA CGM Hydra. Warehousing and trucking into the terminal have also been suspended, according to Maersk, but with the news of the partial reopening, this will change over the coming days. Meanwhile, Ningbo Zhoushan port posted a container handling volume of over 20 million TEU year to date, reaching the milestone one month earlier than last year. Ningbo Zhoushan first passed 20 million TEU container throughput in a year in December 2015. It is a breakthrough for the port to handle 20 million TEU in August, a new record. Last year, Ningbo Zhoushan port posted a container volume of 28.72 million TEU, making it to be the world's third busiest container port. It currently operates 278 shipping routes.  

Ningbo Zhoushan box volume tops 20m teu

PostTime:2021-08-19 09:18:13 View:543

China’s Ningbo Zhoushan port posted a container handling volume of over 20m teu year to date, reaching the milestone one month earlier than last year. Katherine Si | Aug 18, 2021 Ningbo Zhoushan first passed 20m teu container throughput in a year in December 2015. It is a breakthrough for the port to handle 20m teu container volume in August, a new record. Last year, Ningbo Zhoushan port posted a container volume of 28.72m teu, making it to be the world’s third busiest container port. Related: Vessels work around closed Ningbo Meishan terminal Ningbo Zhoushan port currently operates 278 shipping routes.

Ningbo Ocean Shipping joins newbuild buying spree

PostTime:2021-08-13 08:37:16 View:283

THE Ningbo Ocean Shipping Company (NBOSCO) has joined its peers in the newbuilding arms race, reports London's Loadstar. The shipping company has ordered three 3,300-TEU ships at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and three 1,400-TEU ships at Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Ship Industry. Yangzijiang is China's largest non-state-owned shipbuilder while Jungly Shipyard is controlled by the government through a 51 per cent stake held by Qingdao Military-Civilian Integration Development Group. The newbuildings will be delivered from late 2023 to early 2024. The contract price wasn't disclosed, though a 3,300-TEU newbuilding is priced at US$35 million a 1,400 TEU at $23 million. NBOSCO has been expanding its liner service network from East Asia, launching new routes to Southeast Asia as part of the Belt and Road initiative.  

Ningbo turns ships away as a docker tests positive for Covid

PostTime:2021-08-13 08:28:46 View:250

 THE Port of Ningbo suspended operations at terminals for the day following a single case of Covid-19 being detected in a 34-year-old docker, reported Singapore's Splash 247. Ningbo-Zhoushan port has started to turn ships away this morning in the wake of the positive nucleic test. The man resides in a dormitory and tested negative on August 8, before being retested on August 10. A first, the port authority said that its operating system was down early this morning before the Ningbo Municipal Health Commission made a statement. The infected man was part of the workforce at Ningbo Meidong Container Terminal. An unprecedented number of tankers, bulk carriers and containerships had by then backing up outside Ningbo-Zhoushan port. Ningbo-Zhoushan handled 1.17 billion tons in 2020 making it the largest port in the world by some distance. Its annual box throughput is approaching 30 million, making it the third largest container port in the world. When a Covid-19 outbreak was detected at Yantian Port in late May, operations at the key southern Chinese export hub were slashed by 70 per cent for most of June. Since July 20, community-spread infections have been confirmed in roughly half of China's provinces, sparking mass testing operations and localised lockdowns. Newly reported positive Covid-19 cases in China have recently forced the country to re-introduce restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. Most ports in the country are now requiring a nucleic acid test (NAT) for all crew, with vessels forced to remain at anchor until negative results are confirmed. Many ports in the country also require vessels to quarantine for 14-28 days if they previously berthed in India or performed a crew change within 14 days of arriving in China.  

Shanghai-Ningbo typhoon results in week-long cargo delays

PostTime:2021-08-12 08:29:28 View:539

JAPANESE owned but Singapore based Ocean Network Express (ONE) says Typhoon In-fa, that hit Shanghai and Ningbo, has caused delays of up to a week on some services, including intra-Asia services connecting Japan, New Zealand and Vietnam. While the typhoon led to the temporary closure of both ports, the impact has been longer lasting, creating queues of ships waiting to load and unload, which is having a knock-on effect on sailing schedules that are already disrupted, reports IHS Media. Maersk said the delays at Shanghai, the world's busiest container port, are likely to last at least another week. "Shanghai is suffering port congestion clearing the backlog caused by Typhoon In-fa," Maersk said. "For Maersk, we see the waiting time is between two to four days in the Waigaoqiao and Yangshan areas. We expect the situation will recover in a week's time or perhaps longer." Yangshan is Shanghai's main port area in Hangzhou Bay about 80 miles from the city centre, while Waigaoqiao is in Shanghai's Pudong district where APM Terminals operates Shanghai East Container Terminal in a joint venture with Shanghai International Port Group.  

Chinese port container volumes up 15% in H1 Photo: Ningbo - Zhoushan

PostTime:2021-07-22 08:46:44 View:537

In the past half year of 2021 container volume reported at all Chinese ports was 138.18m teu, an increase of 15% year on year. Katherine Si | Jul 21, 2021 Meanwhile, cargo throughput was reported at 7.64bn tons, up 13.2%. In late June, container volume growth rate at eight major Chinese ports increased 10.3% year on year in late June; export container volume increased 12.1% while the domestic volume increased 4.6%. Related: Container volume at major Chinese ports up 2.3% in early June Cargo throughput at major coastal hub ports declined 0.9% year-on-year while the international trade cargo throughput dropped 0.8%. Crude oil shipments at major coastal ports dropped 4.9% year-on-year while metal ore shipments dropped 6.4%. Cargo throughput and container volume at the three major Yangtze river ports, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing, increased 4.4% and 11.2% year-on-year, respectively. In June, the cargo throughput at major coastal Chinese ports dropped 1.5% year-on-year while the container volume at eight major ports increased 5.7%. Among which, the port of Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan all posted a growth rate of over 10%.    

Ningbo Ocean Shipping to pay US$61m to buy Zhejiang Haigang Shipping

PostTime:2021-03-12 08:21:20 View:257

A SUBSIDIARY of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, Ningbo Ocean Shipping, is to acquire Zhejiang Haigang Shipping for CNY400.96 million (US$61.43 million) to reduce competition and integrate resources. Zhejiang Haigang Shipping, which was sent up in 2019, is planning to develop a fleet focusing on sea-river combined transportation system, featuring the advantages of large loading capacity, low fuel consumption, safety and efficiency. Ningbo Ocean Shipping is currently planning for spin-off listing for Zhejiang Haigang Shipping, reports Seatrade Maritime News, Colchester, UK. The company will purchase a 100 per cent stake equity of Zhejiang Haigang Shipping from Zhejiang Seaport Group, an indirect shareholder of Ningbo-Zhoushan port company, to better integrate internal shipping-related resources and improve service capacity along Yangtze river, according to Ningbo-Zhoushan Port.

Ningbo Ocean Shipping to acquire Zhejiang Haigang Shipping

PostTime:2021-03-10 08:31:39 View:236

Ningbo Ocean Shipping, a subsidiary of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, is to purchase Zhejiang Haigang Shipping for CNY400.96m ($61.43m) to reduce competition and integrate resources. Katherine Si | Mar 09, 2021 Zhejiang Haigang Shipping is planning to develop a fleet focusing on sea-river combined transportation system, featuring the advantages of large loading capacity, low fuel consumption, safety and efficiency. Ningbo Ocean Shipping is currently planning for spin-off listing for Zhejiang Haigang Shipping. Related: Ningbo Ocean Shipping expands into Southeast Asia The company will purchase a 100% stake equity of Zhejiang Haigang Shipping from Zhejiang Seaport Group, an indirect shareholder of Ningbo-Zhoushan port company, to better integrate internal shipping-related resources and improve service capacity along Yangtze river, according to Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. Zhejiang Haigang Shipping was set up in 2019.

Ningbo Zhoushan January volume up 14.5pc to 2.88 million TEU

PostTime:2021-02-17 19:28:07 View:588

THE Port of Ningbo Zhoushan in Zhejiang province, has posted a 14.5 per cent increase in year-on-year January container volume to 2.88 million TEU. The port has newly opened one near-sea shipping route, increasing its total number of shipping routes to 261. The port handled more than 1.17 billion tonnes of cargo in 2020, up over four per cent year on year and ranking first in the world for a 12th straight year, according to the Ministry of Transport. The port's container throughput hit 28.72 million TEU last year, up over four per cent year on year and ranking third globally.  

Ningbo Ocean Shipping expands into Southeast Asia

PostTime:2021-01-26 08:25:36 View:249

Ningbo Ocean Shipping launched its first Belt and Road liner service connecting with Southeast Asia at Jiaxing port, Zhejiang province. The service will call at the Chinese ports of Jiaxing, Ningbo-Zhoushan and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Ningbo Ocean Shipping said that the route could provide a new trading channel for clients in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, strengthening business connection between the region and Southeast Asia. Related: China United Lines moving in the Asia – Europe container trade Ningbo Ocean Shipping, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ningbo-Zhoushan port, focuses on container shipping services for China-Japan and China-South Korea, as well as domestic market.