In spite of the developments in the last 15 months, COVID-19 lockdowns are still affecting the maritime business. At the moment, there are a multitude of tankers and cargo ships awaiting to load and unload merchandise at the port of Shanghai. The port is being affected by the anti-COVID-19 measures implemented by the Chinese authorities, which has slowed down operations and created a logistical quagmire with an impact on the global shipping sector.
The difficult situation in the port of Shanghai could cause massive disruptions in European terminals once the port authorities are able to resolve the “logistical clog”, as hundreds of ships could simultaneously head for EU ports in a short time. This could congest European terminals and put an excessive strain on the logistics chain.
Thus, ETA supports the FEPORT’s call for an urgent initiative from the EU Commission to summon all interested parties to discuss contingency plans and prepare for the expected difficulties that the EU logistics sector might suffer.
“The situation at the port of Shanghai is quite worrisome, the cascading effects of a quick “unclog” of the terminals would generate a logistical nightmare in Europe, disrupting our logistics and supply chains and affecting every link of them. Thus, it is essential to start a dialogue and to define preventing measures with the EU authorities and our stakeholders. Both the European and national authorities and the logistics and maritime industries need to prepare for the worst possible scenario in order to be able to absorb the possible shock”, says ETA Secretary General, Ms. Anna Maria Darmanin.
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