The world’s busiest container port, Yangshan in China’s business hub of Shanghai, is battling heavy congestion brought about by dense fog, higher-than-usual volumes and reportedly the shake-up in shipping alliances.

Numerous container vessels have been delayed outside of port, with the average delay for ships arriving at the port jumping to 53 hours during this month.

The recent changes in global container shipping alliances came into effect on April 1, causing route adjustments and the addition of some larger ships. The record for the world’s largest container ship has been broken twice in the last month, as both MOL and Maersk have introduced new vessels capable of carrying over 20,000 containers.

Steve Ireland, Uniserve Sea Freight Director commented “We are watching the situation closely and communicating on a daily basis with both our Shanghai operations and the carriers. We are hopeful that the situation will improve when the new schedules start to settle down, but are encouraging customers to make allowance for the current position”.

Shanghai has been the world’s busiest port by container volumes over the past decade, processing almost 40 million containers last year.

For further information on the above please contact your local Uniserve representative. To talk to us about how our award-winning ocean and air freight services can enhance your supply chain, please email info@ugroup.co.uk or call 01708 259450.