Shanghai has been smacked by its strongest typhoon in 75 years after making landfall on China’s east coast early Monday, according to reports from state media, forcing container vessels to steer clear of the two major ports in the metropolitan area.
Ahead of Typhoon Bebinca’s arrival, the Port of Shanghai saw a 56 percent drop in container vessel port calls from Friday to Saturday, according to data from maritime visibility platform Windward AI. That was followed by an even more dramatic 95 percent decrease into Sunday.
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And the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan saw an 86 percent decline in port calls between Friday and Saturday, with no port calls on Sunday.
S&P Global Commodities at Sea indicated that the loading and unloading of containers at Shanghai’s Yangshan Port and Waigang Port was stopped at Sunday at midnight, while container operations at Ningbo were halted on Saturday. In the case of Yangshan, arrangements were made for truck drivers from outside Shanghai to stay in a “drivers’ home” near the port, according to a report from Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
As of Monday, Kuehne + Nagel’s Seaexplorer supply chain planning tool indicates that both Shanghai and Ningbo are active, but with “heavily disrupted operations.”
Thirty-six container vessels are currently anchored near both major ports, says S&P Global.
No vessels have left Shanghai since 1:13 a.m. local time Sunday, while none have left Ningbo since Saturday.
The Ports of Shanghai and Ningbo are the largest and third-largest ports in the world by 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled, signaling that there will be more congestion out of both hubs in the near future.
The ports have dealt with consistent congestion in recent months, along with other major southeast Asian ports including hubs in Singapore and Kelang, in the wake of the ongoing disruptions in the Red Sea throughout 2024. The lengthier transit times of ships around southern Africa’s Cape of Good Hope has resulted in more off-schedule arrivals, which causes vessel bunching.
According to service updates from Hapag-Lloyd on Monday, waiting times for container ships into the Port of Shanghai were already between 36 and 60 hours due to vessel bunching, while those entering the Port of Ningbo had a 24-to-48-hour waiting time.
But both berth situations “expect to deteriorate further due to Bebinca,” the ocean carrier said.
Typhoon Bebinca barreled into China just a week after Typhoon Yagi battered its southern coast, as well as Vietnam and Myanmar, leveling the former’s manufacturing hubs and resulting in more than 400 deaths across both countries.
All flights at Shanghai’s two international airports—Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao International Airport—have been canceled since Sunday.
Shanghai Railway Station also suspended operations, and the Shenzhen government cancelled all trains operating to and from Shanghai. Water transport has also been closed temporarily and ferries along Chongming Island have been suspended. Highways were closed, while a 40 kilometer (25 mile) per hour speed limit is in place on roads inside the city.
The China Meteorological Administration recorded wind speeds of 151 kph (94 mph) near the typhoon’s eye when it made landfall. The storm would be classified as a Category 1 hurricane in the U.S. The administration also noted that some parts of the city of approximately 25 million had seen almost three inches of rainfall in one hour on Monday morning.
More than 400,000 people have been evacuated across the Shanghai direct-administered municipality area by Sunday evening, with evacuations also in effect across the neighboring provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu. The typhoon caused significant damage across the city, knocking down more than 10,000 trees and leaving 30,000 households without electricity.
Typhoon Bebinca is the fiercest storm to hit Shanghai since Typhoon Gloria in 1949, and marks the 13th typhoon to hit China in 2024.
Bebinca is forecast to across Anhui and Henan provinces in eastern China, weakening and dissipating over the next two days.
For the next 48 hours, moderate to very heavy rainfall up to 12 inches is expected across the Shanghai area, Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan provinces.
These disruptions are occurring during China’s three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday which began on Sunday.
