NEW Covid quarantine rules for cargo workers at key gateways in China are putting air cargo supply chains under pressure, reports London's Air Cargo News.
Over the last few weeks, Covid cases in China have begun to pick up as the country contends with the contagious Delta variant of the virus.
To contain outbreaks, lockdowns and stricter quarantine measures have been put in place which is having an impact on cargo operations at both airports and seaports.
According to supply chain risk analyst, Everstream Analytics, pickup and delivery services, as well as air cargo operations have seen the most disruptions, with 15 airports identified as having been affected.
The analytics firm said that Nanjing Lukou International Airport and Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport had both been temporarily closed earlier in August.
Meanwhile, earlier this month Beijing airport had been operating at around 43 per cent capacity, Shanghai Pudong at around 33 per cent capacity and and Xiamen Airport (XIN) at 66 per cent.
Each airport has cancelled hundreds of flights.
'Furthermore, due to several crew members testing positive for Covid-19 and thereby impacting labour availability, China Cargo Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have suspended passenger belly freighters until the end of August,' a report from Everstream Analytics said.
'The situation is likely to cause airport congestion and delays and trigger further rate increases due to lost air cargo capacity. Major airports in China have restricted operations to undertake virus disinfection work and as a result, shortages in flight capacity and staff have been reported.'
Freight forwarder Flexport said that the most affected airport is Shanghai Pudong where ground handling staff are working for seven days, quarantining at a hotel for seven days and then quarantining at home for seven days.
Manufacturing and production operations are also reported to have been affected.
SeaNews Turkey
Over the last few weeks, Covid cases in China have begun to pick up as the country contends with the contagious Delta variant of the virus.
To contain outbreaks, lockdowns and stricter quarantine measures have been put in place which is having an impact on cargo operations at both airports and seaports.
According to supply chain risk analyst, Everstream Analytics, pickup and delivery services, as well as air cargo operations have seen the most disruptions, with 15 airports identified as having been affected.
The analytics firm said that Nanjing Lukou International Airport and Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport had both been temporarily closed earlier in August.
Meanwhile, earlier this month Beijing airport had been operating at around 43 per cent capacity, Shanghai Pudong at around 33 per cent capacity and and Xiamen Airport (XIN) at 66 per cent.
Each airport has cancelled hundreds of flights.
'Furthermore, due to several crew members testing positive for Covid-19 and thereby impacting labour availability, China Cargo Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have suspended passenger belly freighters until the end of August,' a report from Everstream Analytics said.
'The situation is likely to cause airport congestion and delays and trigger further rate increases due to lost air cargo capacity. Major airports in China have restricted operations to undertake virus disinfection work and as a result, shortages in flight capacity and staff have been reported.'
Freight forwarder Flexport said that the most affected airport is Shanghai Pudong where ground handling staff are working for seven days, quarantining at a hotel for seven days and then quarantining at home for seven days.
Manufacturing and production operations are also reported to have been affected.
SeaNews Turkey
