Shanghai Lockdown Will Hike Logistics Costs, Warns Maersk

Following Shanghai’s decision to lockdown, shipping giant Maersk announced today that transportation prices will continue to rise. Shanghai went into lockdown yesterday, shutting down half of the city while the other will be locked down for a four-day testing exercise starting Friday.

“Due to a full lockdown on Shanghai’s Pudong and Puxi sectors in turn till 5 April, trucking service in and out of Shanghai will be significantly disrupted by 30%.” Even while airports and ports remained open, local officials restricted the flow of goods and people by prohibiting unlicensed cars from the streets and advising residents to stay at home. Warehouses will be closed till Friday as well. “Consequently, there will be longer delivery time and a possible rise in transport costs such as detour fee and highway fee.” China, who is seeing the highest number of Covid cases since the start of the pandemic, put restrictions on other industrial cities such as Changchun and Shenzhen, giving rise to long queues outside ports.