Corona likely to have a costly impact on Chinese ports
The maritime data provider Alphaliner has published its estimates with regard to the effects of the extended Chinese Lunar New Year holidays and the countermeasures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
According to these figures, the epidemic will reduce container cargo volumes at Chinese ports (mainland China and Hong Kong) by over 6 million teu in the first quarter of 2020. This volume contraction is expected to reduce container throughput growth worldwide by at least 0.7% for the full year.
It is too early to judge the final impact of the Chinese coronavirus outbreak on container volumes, since the ports have not yet disclosed their throughput numbers for the first quarter.
Yet, Alphaliner's data collected on weekly container vessel calls at key Chinese ports already show a reduction of more than 20% since mid-January. (mw)