Ningbo Zhoushan Port's vessel backlog eases as average waiting times drop to one day following typhoon disruptions.
The vessel backlog at Ningbo Zhoushan Port, accumulated in the wake of successive typhoon disruptions, is being steadily absorbed. As of 9 October, the average vessel waiting time across the port had fallen to approximately one day, returning to normal operational levels. According to a report by the Yongpai client on 10 October, vessels that had accumulated due to the consecutive impacts of Typhoons Bavi, Bailu, and Shanshan have now been largely cleared. At certain container terminals, vessels are berthing immediately upon arrival, and terminal operations are returning to regular order.
Data released by Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group confirms that the port completed container throughput of 4.27 million TEUs in September, representing year-on-year growth of 11.5% and a month-on-month increase of 15% - a new monthly historical record. For the period from January to September of this year, cumulative container throughput reached 34.666 million TEUs, up 6.8% year on year.
In terms of operational efficiency, the daily average container throughput at the port's container terminals rose from 130,000 TEUs to 142,000 TEUs from September onwards, with the seven-day Golden Week holiday period recording a daily average of 145,000 TEUs. During the same period, the in-berth operational efficiency of container vessels in September improved by 5% compared with the average for the preceding eight months, and non-operational vessel time was reduced to 70 minutes - 34 minutes less than the full-year average for 2025.
In response to the concentrated vessel arrivals caused by the typhoons, Ningbo Zhoushan Port strengthened coordination with shipping lines and dynamically adjusted vessel arrival schedules according to terminal handling capacity, yard utilization, and anchorage conditions. Following the three typhoon events, the port completed a cumulative total of 74 vessel schedule adjustments, comprising 56 berth reassignments and 18 dual-berth arrangements, alongside the concurrent optimization of three container shipping routes.
Average waiting times at the port have now returned to approximately one day, and congestion pressure at the container terminals has eased markedly.