Shipping orders to surge with Shanghai going back on track

Pent-up demand due to earlier COVID lockdown to spur global firms' earnings

Global shipping companies will see more orders from China in the coming months as the COVID-19 situation eases in Shanghai while continuing to adopt new tactics to compete with each other, said analysts and business executives on Wednesday.

As a surge in COVID-19 cases forced a lockdown in April and May in Shanghai－the world's largest container port by throughput capacity－and also because of logistics delays resulting from highway controls in parts of China, the metropolis suffered from a breakdown in the logistics supply chain. Many foreign container ships didn't choose ports in Shanghai to call in during that period.

Even though it will take some time for shipping and port businesses to return to normal in Shanghai, there are huge amounts of pent-up demand, both from factories resuming work and their urgent need for exporting products overseas after the delay, said Zhou Zhicheng, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.