As we already know, the Chinese authorities decided to extend the quarantines in Shanghai, a city of 26 million inhabitants and home to the world’s largest port in terms of container traffic, and the effects on world shipping were quickly felt.
The lockdowns in China are having a major impact on congestion outside the country’s ports, with the number of container ships waiting outside Chinese ports today 195% higher than in February according to data pulled from the platform. Windward Maritime Artificial Intelligence .
The three images below show a 48-hour snapshot of container ships waiting outside China’s ports in April, during which Shanghai was closed; March, which saw a lockdown of Shenzhen; and February, without confinement.
The trend is clear: In the April and March snapshots, there were 506 and 470 vessels, respectively, stuck outside Chinese ports. In February, that number was just 260. In essence, the closures in China have almost doubled the congestion outside the country’s ports.
