All posts in Canaan Transport Blog Post

May 2, 2022 – Many parts of Asia are currently on holiday this week but Chinese ports especially are under tremendous pressure due to the zero tolerance policy for covid. The largest issues remaining are the terminals handling capacity, lack of truck drivers and lack of truck availability due to the transport measures that have been enacted. This has caused a price hike in the cost for haulage and transports across many regions and has causes severe limitations for any haulage. Many suppliers are also negotiating with importers to change terms from FOB to EXW due to the hardship they are experiencing in trying to source trucking under FOB terms.

The city of Shanghai remains under lockdown and although reports are that the port terminals in Waigaoqiao and Yangshan are operating, there are stringent restrictions for any frontline port and terminal staff that are still in effect. These restrictions have greatly affected the ability for goods to be transported throughout Shanghai especially as some key highways usually used by truckers have also closed or have severely restricted access. This has greatly reduced the number of available truckers, equipment and transport options for exporters in Shanghai that are still able to produce. The situation has forced many trucks to be turned away from these surrounding provinces thus leaving large amounts of cargo stranded. The ongoing situation has forced carriers and carrier alliances to impact vessel services through implementation of additional blank sailings, restructuring of schedules, delays for departures and arrival and longer waiting times through all links of the supply chain. As such, we anticipate more delays for upcoming sailings as this will have substantial impact on ocean bookings throughout the region.

The obvious alternative routing is to ship via Ningbo but the situation in Ningbo continues to worsens with rising cases across the region. The situation in Shenzhen is faring only slightly better as there are still limitations for transport.

In Canada, we continue to experience some delays for west coast dwell times in Vancouver and Prince Rupert which is still about 2 weeks. The biggest factor appears to be when a vessel has docked and is offloaded, we are experiencing Terminal Delays (some more than others) in making the containers available for pick up as some are being put on block stow. Understandably, this can cause much frustration as to importers it can appear that vessel and containers have arrived but are still not available for pickup, delivery or furtherance by rail. In some instances, containers were not being made available for up to one month.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about your upcoming shipments.

April 15, 2022 – AP Moller-Maersk A/S has stopped bookings to ship refrigerated containers into Shanghai as a strict COVID lockdown stalls the trucking of meat and seafood from the port into the city. Containers are piling up at the port of Shanghai due to supply chain disruptions caused by the lockdown, Ocean Network Express said in an advisory to customers on Thursday. The port is running out of electric plug slots to keep refrigerated containers cool, while trucking remains limited and terminals are congested, the container shipping line said. That has prompted Maersk to stop all new deliveries of refrigerated goods and some hazardous cargoes into Shanghai until further notice, the company said on Thursday. The company is waiving charges for customers to change the destination of their frozen goods already sailing to Shanghai.

April 5, 2022 – The city-wide lockdown of Shanghai has been extended until further notice. The port of Shanghai is only partially operational as the roads into and in Shanghai are largely closed. Truckers are unable to enter or leave Shanghai. Shops, public transport, restaurants and all but essential businesses are closed. All of the 25+ million inhabitants of the city have been ordered to stay at home until further notice. The relatively nearby port of Ningbo is operating normally but is conjested due to the impact of traffic rerouted from Shanghai.

April 4, 2022 – COVID lockdowns in China, war in Ukraine and the threat of hyper-inflation are a toxic mix of unpredictability for liner trades, but they have so far not had an impact on container freight rates.

Indeed, container spot rates are broadly in line with normal seasonal falls and, moreover, ocean carriers are succeeding in driving-through significant contract rate increases.

March 28, 2022 – Please see the following summary of the various port situations in China.

Shenzhen: All ports(Yantian, Shekou, Chiwan) are open. Off-dock yards in Yantian/Nansha/Shekou are re-opened. Some areas of Shenzhen resume work. Drivers still need to provide testing report in/out of the terminal which slow down the process of picking an returning the containers in that area. Dongguan was re-opened, but if the factories are in the closed areas in Huizhou, container loading is not possible. Overall, the situation is improving.

Shanghai: The whole Pudong district was shut down from 3/28 to 4/1 while Puxi will be shut down from 4/1 to 4/5 by Chinese government. So far, Ports are still open. The nucleic acid report cannot be released within 12hrs due to the surge of people are doing nucleic acid test at the same time which further reduces the trucking capacity. Container movement between Shanghai and nearby industrial areas in Jiangsu province are restricted. The situation is still developing, no re-opening schedule has been announced yet. Carriers are shifting more allocation to Ningbo port or the river ports on Yangtze River to fill up the ship.

Qingdao: Ports are open. Driver inter-city movement greatly constrained due to testing report requirements. There is 30% drop of trucking power. The whole city transportation process is slowing down.

Tianjin: Ports are open and port operation keeps normal. The COVID situation is severe, several areas are requested personnel nucleic acid test. Container movement around Cangzhou/Langfang/Bazhou/Tangshan are seriously restricted and waiting for further notice, most factories around these areas are locked down.

March 20, 2022 – CP Rail and its workers have not reached an agreement after the union and the company could not come to a negotiated settlement or agree to binding arbitration. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents the rail workers said employees will start picketing across the country. Workers are calling for better wages and pensions that they say will make the industry more attractive to younger workers.

March 17, 2022 – Canadian Pacific Railway has issued 72-hour notice to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC)-Train & Engine of its plan to lock out employees at 00:01 ET on March 20, if the union leadership and the company are unable to come to a negotiated settlement or agree to binding arbitration. “For the sake of our employees, our customers, the supply chain we serve and the Canadian economy that is trying to recover from multiple disruptions, we simply cannot prolong for weeks or months the uncertainty associated with a potential labour disruption,” said Keith Creel, CP President and CEO. “The world has never needed Canada’s resources and an efficient transportation system to deliver them more than it does today. Delaying resolution would only make things worse. We take this action with a view to bringing this uncertainty to an end.” Over the past week, CP and the TCRC leadership have been meeting daily with federal mediators to reach a new negotiated collective agreement in hopes of avoiding a labour disruption. Despite those talks, the two sides’ positions remain far apart.

March 15, 2022 – With a potential rail strike at CP looming tomorrow, talks are continuing in Calgary today. More news as it develops.

March 15, 2022 – Ocean carriers are scrambling to adjust their networks as the Chinese city of Shenzhen begins a week-long lockdown. According to a notice issued by the Shenzhen COVID-19 Prevention and Control Command Office, the city’s circa-17m residents must stay at home until Sunday – apart from going out for three rounds of testing – following which, “adjustments will be made according to the new situation.” Most carriers have yet to release advisories as “we don’t know what to say”, said one carrier source on March 14.

March 14, 2022 – As advised last week, approximately 3,000 Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive engineers and conductors may take labour action as early as this week which would significantly affect all rail services in Canada. Its effect would significantly impact rail services in Canada and there may be suspension of certain rail services prior to an anticipated strike date. Canaan Transport will continue to be in contact with our ocean carrier partners, as they review and announce contingency plans and will also advise our clients of options to divert potentially affected cargo to other modes or carriers. The situation is fluid and with the intervention of federal mediators in contract negotiations, there may be strike date extensions to forestall any labour action while talks proceed. We will continue to monitor and update you as the situation progresses.