Newsletter: May 2, 2022

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Qinhuangdao Port Enters Lockdown as Beijing Readies Stimulus Package

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The northern port of Qinhuangdao in Hebei province is the latest Chinese commodities hub to get hit by virus-related lockdowns, as China’s top politicians discuss urgent stimulus measures to pump-prime the national economy.
The city has locked down its Haigang district, which includes the giant coal handling complex, although officials at the port claim it is operating normally.
Nearby Tangshan, China’s largest steel-producing city, has also been in lockdown for much of April. Read more here.

Port of Long Beach boosts rail capacity

splash247.com
The Port of Long Beach has completed construction of a rail project designed to increase efficiency of goods movement and reduce congestion on local roadways by shifting more cargo to trains.
The project added a second rail line running approximately 8,000 feet that enables four terminals in the port’s south basin area to simultaneously handle arriving and departing trains. It is part of the port’s ongoing rail infrastructure capital improvement program aimed at shifting more cargo to rail, one of the goals of the 2017 Update of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan. Read more here.

Antwerp and Zeebrugge start work together as a unified port

splash247.com
The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge have officially started work as a unified entity this week.
The new Port of Antwerp-Bruges has become Europe’s largest export port and employs 74,000 people. Other records it can lay claim to include being the continent’s biggest car port. Read more here.

How war, shipping boom, China lockdowns impact Panama Canal

freightwaves.com
What’s the single most important concentration of infrastructure keeping America supplied with goods? The Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, which handles around 40% of the country’s containerized imports. What’s the second most important? One could make a strong case for the expanded Panama Canal. Read more here.