Typhoon Kong-ray creates chaos in Shanghai, Ningbo and Kaohsiung

Asian container ports—Shanghai, Ningbo, and Kaohsiung—are managing congestion following Typhoon Kong-Rey last week. According to EconDB, Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s primary container port, faces delays for all incoming vessels, with 69 ships expected due to the typhoon.

ONE’s vessel schedule shows that the 1,100 teu Contship Era arrived in Kaohsiung, but could only berth after a long period of wait. Similarly, the YM Wreath, waited over 24 hours to dock. Current waiting times are five days for transshipments and six days for exports.

Shanghai and Ningbo temporarily paused some operations in preparation for Kong-Rey. EconDB reports delays of 82% in Shanghai and 85% in Ningbo, with 195 and 116 container ships, respectively. According to Linerlytica, congestion in North Asian ports surged last week as adverse weather from Kong-Rey caused long vessel queues in the Taiwan Straits and Shanghai/Ningbo regions.

Linerlytica commented that the backlog is likely to clear in the coming days, though some delays may continue. Severe weather disrupted vessel departures from Shanghai last week, with additional delays expected. While General Rate Increases (GRIs) on 1 November may have halted freight rate declines, congestion-related capacity issues may lead carriers to reduce rates again if vessel utilization remains low. Linerlytica further added that carriers will find it challenging to maintain rate hikes with November cargo demand still weak, unless more capacity reductions occur. Although utilization rose in late October, this was due to post-Golden Week blanked sailings from China and pre-loading ahead of November rate hikes.