Recovering relatively well
Chinese ports provide global economy with renewed impetus. Although the overall situation concerning congestion has eased somewhat, all that glitters still isn’t gold in Chinese ports. Although volumes are rising, especially in exports, the figures from before the shutdowns on 12 March haven’t been attained yet.
Things are looking up again. The seasonally adjusted container turnover index of the RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research and the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) rose from 124.9 points (revised May figure) to 126.1 points for June.
This is not thanks to the ports of the European North Range, as their index in June, compared to the previous month, fell from 112.9 points (revised) to 111.2. Chinese ports, in contrast, set the pace, with their figures improving from 134.7 to 140.5 points. However, the picture has to be viewed in a differentiated way.
So the all-clear can’t be sounded yet. The US shipping analyst Four Kites sees countervailing trends in the recovery. Thus the port of Shanghai, despite a throughput peak in mid-July, for example, has lost 14% in volume overall, due also to new anti-pandemic measures, whilst Shenzhen stands 29% and Ningbo-Zhoushan 12% above the level of 12 March, when the shutdowns began.
Mixed news for dwell times
The dwell time for export shipments from Chinese ports as tracked by Four Kites is down, and now comes to six days, which is down by 11% in compared to 12 March. Import dwell times in Chinese ports remain 8% higher compared to before the lockdowns, with average ocean dwell times now at 4.4 days.
Four Kites also analysed hinterland traffic by road and rail around Shanghai. The 14-day average shipment volume for loads being delivered to Shanghai is down by 76% compared to 12 March.
Road shipment volumes are twice as high as they were during a low in mid-May. There’s also been a 142% increase in shipment volumes since a low in mid-June.