SHOCKWAVES continue to reverberate in the wake of the Tianjin disaster with two container terminals still closed and Fortune magazine reporting it will be a week before 80 per of goods are flowing through the port that serves Beijing.
Tianjin is the third largest port in China and fourth largest the world. Port officials said there were 112 killed and 90 missing since the explosion.
Prices of many industrial materials will likely rise in coming weeks, which will have an impact on the electronics and health care industries, said the report.
Coming just over three months before the US holiday shopping season, this could delay the arrival of popular items in time for the American Christmas bonanza Black Friday on November 27.
Inchcape Shipping Services is advising that Tianjin Municipal Transport Commission has issued notice to Tianjin Port to cease handling tankers and containerships carrying hazardous substances.
As a result most tanker operations in the port have stopped. Containerships with hazardous goods on board are currently unable to berth and discharge.
Tianjin Municipal Transport Commission has not indicated when port operations for vessels carrying hazardous substances may resume. The measure has been taken following a warehouse explosion three kilometres from the nearest container terminal last week.
Tianjin is a major base for petrochemicals, refining and other industries. The explosion occurred when toxic chemicals in a warehouse owned by logistics company Rui Hai International Logistics Co Ltd were ignited.
Some 2,700 new vehicles have been damaged or destroyed, with Volkswagen having been hit particularly hard. Toyota has shut down two of its plants that were near the port for three days.
Toyota said that 50 of its employees were injured in the blast. BMW has moved its port operations to Shanghai for importing its cars into China.
Four helicopters operated by Eastern General Aviation were damaged when a hangar door was blown off from the force of the explosion.
The Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration said all berths had started to receive vessels based on normal schedules except for the Beigangchi area, which has banned tankers and vessels carrying hazardous goods.
Maersk said that all its employees were accounted for and that its facilities had suffered only minor damage. Maersk terminal operating subsidiary APM Terminals, five kilometres away from the blast site, was closed for a day but has since resumed operations, Lloyd's List reported.
But Maersk's logistics arm Damco sustained serious damage to two of its warehouses though no employees were injured. Maersk said it has been unable to say if Damco cargo had been damaged as there is restricted access to the blast site.
But a number of shippers were sure to experience disruption, including Deere & Co and Caterpillar, as well as aerospace manufacturer Airbus and Wal-Mart.
The Wall Street Journal reported that several manufacturers have shut down operations in the vicinity because their workers live in areas affected by the blast.
Logistics industry observers expect disruptions in and around Tianjin to continue for several weeks at least and that demand for air freight services was expected to increase among shippers whose supply chains are affected by the disruptions, while others would look to reroute shipments to other ports in northern China such as Dalian and Qingdao.
London's Loadstar reported that although the vessel access channel to the port was now open again to two-way traffic, some access roads leading to the port's container terminals have remained closed or subject to diversions.
Xinhua said that the warehouse owner at the centre of last week's explosions, Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics, had only received a licence to handle hazardous chemicals two months before.
Citing China's state-run Xinhua news agency, it said that Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics, the company that owns the warehouse, did not have legal permission to handle such dangerous materials between October 2014 and June 2015, but the company had continued nonetheless.
ACCIDENTS
20 August 2015 - 11:59
Tianjin aftermath: Port likely to await 7 days before 80pc of cargo restored
SHOCKWAVES continue to reverberate in the wake of the Tianjin disaster with two container terminals still closed and Fortune magazine reporting it will be a week before 80 per of goods are flowing through the port that serves Beijing.
ACCIDENTS
20 August 2015 - 11:59
Tianjin aftermath: Port likely to await 7 days before 80pc of cargo restored
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