China Lockdown: Global Port Congestion and Post Recovery Analysis

As Shanghai attempts to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak, the ports resuming their operations can potentially cause critical spikes in shipping volume as the manufacturing industry attempts to fill its backlogs. Increased traffic could cause a severe influx of cargo volumes at ports in the US and Europe. With the China lockdowns causing a ripple effect on ocean carrier scheduling, major port backlogs are set to arrive at ports along the West Coast. Global port congestion is expected to continue into early 2023, lengthening shipping delivery times and pushing up freight costs. On the one hand, trucking traffic has increased in Shanghai post the lockdowns. On the other, pre-pandemic recovery will be difficult to attain on the account of high costs and restrictions.