Meishan Terminal at China's Ningbo Port Resumes Operations

Meishan terminal at China's Ningbo port resumed operations on Wednesday after shutting down for two weeks due to a COVID-19 case, a port official said at a press briefing.

The closure of the terminal has caused logjams at ports across China's coastal regions and further strained global supply chains amid a resurgence of consumer spending and a shortage of container vessels.

Meishan terminal accounts for about a fifth of traffic at the Ningbo port, one of China's top two container ports.

The reopening came after a fourth round of mass COVID-19 testing in the Meishan district showed negative results, said Jiang Yipeng, vice general manager at Ningbo Zhoushan Port Co .

Jiang said some container ships had been allowed to unload boxes since Aug. 18 and some container boxes had been allowed to enter the port under strict COVID-19 measures since Aug. 20 in order to minimise supply chain impacts.

Some 68 container vessels were queuing off Ningbo port on Friday, the most in at least three years, despite efforts to divert cargos elsewhere, Refinitiv data showed.

The number had fallen to 44 on Wednesday, but was still above average levels of less than 20 in 2020 and 2019.

Jiang said the port planned to enact more stringent COVID-19 control measures on international crews.

"We require crews from international vessels not to come out unless necessary, otherwise the port could terminate operations with the vessel and reject it to call at any terminal at Ningbo port in the future," he said. 

(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Ryan Woo; editing by Richard Pullin)