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By Laura He, CNN Business<\/p>\n
Global shipping was just starting to recover from the chaos of the pandemic. Now port congestion <\/strong>and delays<\/a> are back and could be around for a while.<\/p>\n Covid lockdowns<\/a> in China have wreaked havoc <\/strong>at Shanghai, the world\u2019s biggest container port, and <\/strong>are now causing problems at other major ports around the world.<\/p>\n Some Chinese cities, including Shanghai<\/a>, have started easing Covid restrictions in recent days, but <\/strong>experts say that the damage has already been done, and global shipping will suffer well into the summer. That could exert even more pressure on global supply chains<\/a> already reeling from Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and keep inflation running hot.<\/p>\n Data from Project44, which tracks global supply chains, showed that shipment delays between China and major US and European ports have quadrupled since late March, when China shut down the city of Shanghai, which has the world\u2019s busiest container port.<\/p>\n By the end of April, ships from China to Seattle were taking four days longer than expected to arrive, up from about one day the previous month.<\/p>\n The time it takes ships to leave China and arrive at major ports around the world increased steadily over the past year, but there had been some signs of relief since December with transit times between Shanghai and Long Beach, for example, dropping in January and February.<\/p>\n Since March, however, there\u2019s been a sharp increase again in transit times on that route.<\/p>\n To add to the problem, many truck drivers have struggled to reach ports<\/a> in China to pick up containers because of travel restrictions and Covid testing requirements. Shipping giant Maersk warned in an advisory last month that trucking services in Shanghai would be \u201cseverely\u201d impacted by these restrictions.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the manufacturing industry being shuttered [in Shanghai] and truckers unable to travel quickly, exports have been reduced, and shipment delays have increased,\u201d said Josh Brazil, director of Supply Chain Data Insights at Project44.<\/p>\n Delays will \u201ccontinue into the summer months,\u201d as factories struggle to return to normal operations in Shanghai, he added.<\/p>\n Although authorities have allowed some businesses to restart production, many workers are still stuck in quarantine at home. Factories that do reopen are facing component shortages and difficulty in securing trucks to carry goods into or out of the port.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ripples in shipment delays are only beginning to become visible and are expected to extend well into the next few months,\u201d said Brazil.<\/p>\n Shanghai \u2014 China\u2019s leading financial center and most populous city \u2014 has been under a strict lockdown since late March. More than 8 million <\/strong>residents are still banned from leaving their residential compounds. The Covid restrictions have spread to other cities, including Beijing \u2014 the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n Shanghai port <\/strong>remained open throughout the lockdown, but data from various shipping firms show an increasing backlog of ships and containers.<\/p>\n US supply chain companies have expressed concerns about fresh chaos heading towards American ports, which are still recovering from the severe congestion and delays they suffered last year.<\/p>\n Shelley Simpson, chief commercial officer for JB Hunt Transport Services, said late last month that while there has been \u201ca temporary relief\u201d at US ports, things may get a lot <\/strong>\u201ca lot worse\u201d this summer because of what\u2019s happening in China.<\/p>\n It \u201cjust takes a little bit of disruption to really change the environment all over again,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Shipping queues are getting worse in China \u2014 and other parts of the world.<\/p>\n Nearly 20% of container vessels globally are currently waiting outside congested ports, according to a survey published last Thursday by Windward, an Israel-based global maritime data firm.<\/p>\n Almost a quarter of those unberthed ships are stuck outside Chinese ports. That\u2019s 412 ships, up 58% since February, the survey added.<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that lockdowns in China have caused a bottleneck, the firm said.<\/p>\nShips and containers jam the ports<\/h3>\n