Beijing, China
Updated Jan. 29, 2020:
Ocean Cargo operations at Wuhan port have been suspended until further notice due to local quarantine restrictions. Elsewhere in Greater China (with the exception of Wuhan), container operations, including those at the terminals, depots, and other facilities, continue to operate as usual over the Lunar New Year holiday period. For ports other than Wuhan, vessels are still maintaining their normal port calls and operations.
On January 27, 2020, China’s General Office of the State Council announced that the Lunar New Year holiday will be extended from January 20, 2020 to February 2, 2020 in an effort to contain the Wuhan novel coronavirus outbreak. Per the Chinese government, this holiday extension is intended to prevent mass gatherings, reduce the spread of the outbreak, and better safeguard the health of the Chinese people.
The current operational and supply-chain impact of the outbreak in Wuhan, an 11 million person city in Hubei province central China, includes the following:
- Factories closing until further notice
- Temporary suspension of Wuhan’s international airport (WUH) operations from January 23, 2020 until further notice
- Barge port shipping delays of up to 2-3 days (or possibly longer)
- Temporary restrictions on cross-border transportation
- Customs closure in the Hubei Province until further notice
Additionally, other Chinese provinces and cities have taken further precautions and implemented an even longer Lunar New Year holiday extension until February 9, 2020. These locations include Shanghai (SHA), Nanjing (NKG), Ningbo (NGB), Suzhou (SZV), Hangzhou (HGH), Shenzhen (SZX), Guangzhou (CAN), and Zhongshan (ZIX).
The Chinese government also implemented travel restrictions affecting a number of cities in the Hubei Province. At present, it is unknown how long these restrictions will be in place. Some airlines have announced temporary suspension of passenger flights into Wuhan, including China Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Thai Airways, and Cathay Dragon.
All Expeditors employees in Wuhan and China are safe. We are working closely with our service providers to ensure continuity of alternative cargo routing and diversion planning. Expeditors will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further updates as deemed appropriate.
Please refer to the following links for additional information:
http://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latestreleases/202001/27/content_WS5e2e34e4c6d019625c603f9b.html;
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2Fnovel-coronavirus-2019.html
