Shanghai Advisory

Shanghai has been struggling with a record surge of COVID-19 infections lately and, accordingly, will enforce two phases of lock-down over the next nine days while authorities carry out COVID-19 testing.

Phase 1: From March 28 at 5 am until April 1 at 5 am, lock-down will be effective in Pudong, Punan, and adjacent areas (eastern bank of Huangpu River). The area is home to about 5.7 million people.

Phase 2: from 3 am on April 1 through 3 am on April 5, lock-down will be effective in Puxi (western bank of Huangpu River).

The lock-down requirements impose restrictions on all kinds of transportation, incl. Public roads. This will limit pick-up and delivery opportunities to airports and ocean ports. Ultimately this will lead to some service disruptions and delays, with a number of airlines, having cancelled flights to and from Pudong airport.

On a moderately positive note, other neighbouring airports and ocean ports remain open, and cargo can be transported to and from those alternatives ports.

However, the pressure on capacity, handling, and local transportation has already become obvious, with an immediate capacity constraint on airfreight as a direct result.

Conversely, on ocean freight, we assess this will create some relief capacity-wise, albeit we also expect carriers to blank a number of sailings to mitigate this situation.We are monitoring the situation and finding solutions, but encourage a close dialogue with your dedicated SGL contact to assess all options.

All information provided in this advisory is given to the best of our knowledge and is prone to change.

If you want to get more information how to navigate air and ocean freight.