China has partially suspended operations of one container terminal at the Ningbo-Zhoushan port as part of measures to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ningbo-Zhoushan is the world’s third busiest port handling 1.17bn mt cargo.
The move threatens the global supply chain which is fragilely recovering from the onslaught of the pandemic. Operations at the terminal were shut on Wednesday after a worker at the site contracted the virus. All inbound and lift-off operations remain halted. The work was full-vaccinated and asymptomatic.
Since 2020, China has adopted a zero-COVID strategy that includes travel restrictions, largescale lockdowns and extensive testing during an outbreak.
The terminal handles 25pc of cargo at the port, according to logistics experts. Earlier China had shut Yantian port in May for nearly a month.
In a recent survey conducted by Sea-Intelligence, a Copenhagen-based agency, Ningbo-Zhoushan ranked the third busiest container port, globally. The port operations were severely hit by a typhoon in late July which has slowed traffic along with the new anti-COVID-19 measures imposed on most Chinese quaysides to control the spread of the Delta variant for last three weeks.