- The feeder service suspension is caused by the COVID-19 quarantine requirement for ship crews plying between South China and Hong Kong upon their return from the Chinese New Year 2022 holidays
- Hapag-Lloyd has temporarily suspended cargo acceptance to South China with final destination in the Pearl River Delta Area and Fuzhou until further notice
- ONE also temporarily suspended the acceptance of cargo bound for the ports in the South China area that require usage of the domestic feeders
- The suspension of feeder services between production hubs in South China and export gateways indicates an early start to the Lunar New Year shutdown in China, said S&P Global Platts
Feeder operators in South China have announced service suspension from late December 2021 to mid-February 2022, according to advisories from container shipping lines.
This suspension is caused by the COVID-19 quarantine requirement for ship crews plying between South China and Hong Kong upon their return from the Chinese New Year 2022 holidays, Hapag-Lloyd said.
“Taking this situation into consideration, we will temporarily suspend cargo acceptance to South China with final destination under the Pearl River Delta Area and Fuzhou until further notice. However, we will continue to accept cargo on mainline services to main ports such as Hong Kong, Yantian, or Shekou,” the carrier said in a December 21 update.
The Ocean Network Express (ONE) late last month similarly announced that due to the COVID-19 quarantine requirements for the crews of the coastal feeders running between South China and Hong Kong waters, feeder operators will suspend their services for a minimum of 6 weeks prior to Lunar New Year 2022, which is February 1 to 5, 2022.
As such, ONE said it will temporarily suspend the acceptance of the cargo bound for the ports in the South China area that require usage of the domestic feeders to reach the final destination. Any cargo to South China that can be serviced by an ocean vessel is not affected, it said.
The suspension of feeder services between production hubs in South China and export gateways indicates an early start to the Lunar New Year shutdown in China, according to an analysis from S&P Global Platts.
Platts noted a client advisory in early December from C.H. Robinson that the premature feeder cancellations will put further pressure on the intra-Asia trade.
In addition, in some production regions, workers are expected to be released up to two weeks early, which is likely to put further pressure on already overloaded capacity networks, said Platts.
The Lunar New Year, which falls on February 1 and is accompanied by a seven-day public holiday in China, is typically a lull period in the ex-Asia container trade and could give ocean carriers an opportunity to reshuffle schedules to regain balanced schedule integrity.
However, as port congestion issues continue to press on the market, few industry watchers expect a return to normalcy after the Lunar New Year, said Platts.
This year, the holiday is followed by the Olympics, which start February 4 in Beijing and could further hamper production activity in North China factories amid strict quarantine requirements, it added.
Photo by Alf van Beem
