This week, exporters rushed to load and ship containers from Shenzhen’s Yantian Port - one of the largest container ports in the world - before an eight day Lunar New Year break and ahead of potential U.S. duties on Chinese products.

Yantian, which handles a third of Guangdong’s international trade, and a quarter of China’s exports to America, has already increased its daily container quota by 15%, to 15,000 units, during the period Jan. 20 to 28. The port announced this in a Wednesday statement.

Li Guoliang was a trucker who spent two hours Thursday evening transporting a full container to the container yard in the port. This is four times the amount of time he normally spends.

Li said that the main reason for the congestion was because factories were rushing to ship before the holiday and there was a limited container quota and space in container yards.

A trucking company reported that a driver had been stuck in the port for over 24 hours on Thursday.

U.S. president Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that the administration is discussing a 10% penalty duty on Chinese imports. A decision could be made by February 1, which would hurt U.S. consumer demand for Chinese goods.

When asked about Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said that China is willing to work with America to promote a stable and healthy growth of economic and trading ties.

Chinese factories and U.S. purchasers had already taken action before Trump's election earlier this week.

China's exports in December were driven by U.S. companies that had built up their inventories and shipped toys, electronics and furniture ahead of new Trump tariffs.

Container throughput in Yantian will grow by nearly 7% annually to a new record of 17.365 million standard container. This was also in line with Shenzhen exports, which jumped 14.6% to an all-time record of 2.81 trillion Yuan last year.

Trucking costs increased this week as the congestion at Yantian Port grew. This has a negative impact on exporters.

The trucking fee from Fuyong in Shenzhen, a logistic hub, to Yantian Port has risen from 1,000 yuan to over 2,500 yuan.

There may be a container drop-off charge of over 1,000 yuan due to the congestion at Yantian.

Li blamed the congestion on Trump's tariff threats.

Why would the factories not ship the goods after LNY?

(source: Reuters)