China has partially shut down the world’s third-busiest container port, the Ningbo Port, after a worker there tested positive for Covid-19.

Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan

• This port is the busiest in the world in terms of cargo tonnage.
• It handled 888.96 million tons of cargo in 2015.
• The port is located in Ningbo and Zhoushan, on the coast of the East China Sea, in Zhejiang province on the southeast end of Hangzhou Bay, across which it faces the municipality of Shanghai.
• The port is at the crossroads of the north-south inland and coastal shipping route, including canals to the important inland waterway to interior China, the Yangtze River, to the north.
• The port consists of several ports which are Beilun (seaport), Zhenhai (estuary port), and old Ningbo harbour (inland river port).

What is the potential impact of the closure?

• Despite the diversion of shipments to other terminals, experts are anticipating a backlog of consignments with average wait times being expected to rise.

How is it likely to affect global trade?

• In the aftermath of Covid-19, global supply chains have remained fragile mainly on account of closures and lockdowns that affected both the manufacturing and the logistical segments of the chain.
• This has not only resulted in a growing backlog of shipments but has also caused freight charges to go up as demand outgrew the supply.
• Extended closure of one of the biggest terminals at the third-busiest port in the world could further exacerbate the stress in global trade.

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