Ocean carriers and shippers are facing several days’ delays to vessel sailing schedules after typhoon Yagi struck southwest China and northern Vietnam over the weekend, closing ports and hitting cargo shipments.
Exporters in northern Vietnam are facing extensive disruption after the storm, which struck Saturday with winds of more than 120 miles per hour, damaged factories, brought down power lines and caused widespread flooding around the port city of Haiphong.
The typhoon, Asia’s most powerful cyclone this year, also killed at least 60 people in China and Vietnam, according to media reports.
Highlighting the impact on vessel schedules, OOCL said 13 ships operating intra-Asia and longer-haul services calling at Hong Kong, Nansha and Yantian and Shekou in Shenzhen are facing sailing delays of up to two days.
But to mitigate the schedule disruption and port closures, OOCL said the container yard cut-off has been extended by up to four days for some of the sailings to help shippers export their cargoes.
The vessels include the 14,846-TEU CMA CGM Pride operating the Transpacific Latin Pacific 2 loop which is now not due to depart Hong Kong until Wednesday, 48 hours later than scheduled.
Ocean Network Express (ONE) said Monday some vessels calling at Haiphong are facing up to a three-day delay.
These include the 1,708-TEU Pearl River Bridge operating the Japan-Vietnam-Haiphong service, which is now scheduled to call at Haiphong Tuesday instead of Saturday. The vessel has already been held up due to congestion at Busan from the impact of typhoon Shanshan, which hit Japan two weeks ago.
Terminal operators including Hutchison Port Holdings and Modern Terminals in Hong Kong said operations were suspended for about 24 hours on Thursday and Friday.
A spokesperson for the Tan Cang Hai Phong International Container Terminal Company, controlled by the state-owned Saigon Newport Corporation, said the port of Haiphong closed on Saturday and Sunday. The spokesperson told the Journal of Commerce there were no reports of injury or damage within the terminal.
Some companies in Vietnam said it would take at least a month to resume production, while officials said nearly 100 enterprises were affected by the typhoon, the state-controlled newspaper Lao Dong said.
Source:
Wallis, K. (2024, September 9). Typhoon yagi slams Vietnam, Southwest China, delaying sailings. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/typhoon-yagi-slams-vietnam-southwest-china-delaying-sailings-5723974