Typhoon Champi port closure warnings are already out. Port agent MasOceans, in a note of 21 October, expects closures at Zhoushan, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou and Xiamen from 22 October, under a Level III response. Pilotage at the Changjiang Estuary has been suspended since 07:00 local time on 21 October and is expected back on 26 October.
Gate suspensions and the forecast track
SEKO expects temporary terminal gate suspensions between the night of 23 October and 26 October. Its page of 21 October puts Zhejiang at Level III and Shanghai at Level IV, and it advises moving urgent gate-in forward now. Ningbo terminals are scheduled to lash empty containers on 22 and 23 October, which United Carriers says may affect empty collection and cut-off times.
The track decides how long the Typhoon Champi port closure lasts. SEKO forecasts a recurve north-east around 24 October toward south-western Japan. The Shanghai Meteorological Centre said on 19 October, as quoted by FreightMainstay, that Champi could also make landfall on Taiwan or enter the South China Sea, and that the impact on Shanghai remains uncertain. Forwarder News has it passing east of Zhoushan on Sunday 25 October.
Dolphin in August: gates shut for about three days, then berth queues
Woodland Group warned on 6 August of a phased suspension at Ningbo terminals from 7 August. Yangshan and Waigaoqiao stopped taking laden containers on 8 August and resumed on 11 August.
The rest of the chronology is FreightMainstay’s. Ningbo went to Level II at 08:00 on 7 August, empty-box gates closed at 12:00 and laden gates at 20:00, and Ningbo’s main terminals took laden boxes again at 16:00 on 10 August. FreightMainstay puts the closure of the two ports at about 62 to 72 hours. After the reopenings FreightMainstay reports berth waits of 7 to 8 days at Waigaoqiao and up to 12 at Yangshan, and SEKO’s 10 August advisory had expected 7 to 10+ days for Shanghai.
Gate closure is a separate order from the port group, made at the city’s request, FreightMainstay says. For the later Typhoon Saudel, SEKO reports that Ningbo terminals suspended empty-box gate-in from 16:00 HKT on 26 August and laden gate-in from 20:00 HKT, under a Ningbo MSA Level III response, a lower level than the Level II at which FreightMainstay says August’s gates closed.
What to settle for boxes loading 23 to 27 October
SEKO’s week 42 waits, taken before Champi arrives, are 1 to 2.5 days at Waigaoqiao, about 4 days at Yangshan terminal YS1 and 6 to 7 days at the other Yangshan terminals. S&P Global quotes market participants at around four days of congestion delay in Shanghai and Ningbo, and a China-based shipper who says ports could be affected for one to two weeks. These are different measures from SEKO’s terminal waits.
FreightMainstay says a missed CY cut-off means slipping one sailing, and that no carrier has published a rollover priority.
Industry post-mortems it quotes point to guaranteed-space bookings and large accounts loading first, and cheap slots and freight-collect cargo last. Off-dock yard drop fees rose from RMB 400-500 per container to RMB 1,000-2,000 after the August typhoon, values FreightMainstay labels as industry monitoring. Woodland Group’s August notice said congestion and delays may bring additional storage, yard or transport costs in some circumstances.
Three points can be put to the carrier in writing, alongside a look at live vessel schedules and container tracking, before any gate notice appears: which cut-off it honours if the terminal suspends gate-in, whether the space is guaranteed, and who pays for a box stuck outside the terminal.
MasOceans expects congestion and berthing delays once operations resume, with bad weather forecast through 27 October.