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World's top ports take major hit from war-like coronavirus pandemic
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2020/04/03 09:49:48
HISTORY shows that the coronavirus pandemic has stuffed up trade flows faster than any other modern crisis, including The Great Recession, the September 11 attacks, and the 1973 oil embargo.
Not even World War II delivered the kind of sudden economic knockout that is paralysing global supply chains as businesses close and consumers obey orders to stay at home around the globe.
"This could be seen as a war-like scenario without the physical asset destruction," World Trade Organization chief economist Robert Koopman told Bloomberg in a telephone interview.
US exports have been hit particularly hard, and the world's leading port of Shanghai saw a 20 per cent year-over-year drop in container throughput in February, according to the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau. Last month, cargo volume at the port of Long Beach decreased by 9.8 per cent from a year earlier and the total container throughput at Hong Kong's port was down 11 per cent on a cumulative basis.
Ports in British Columbia, in Canada, have seen a "material slowdown" in cargo volumes due to a number of events, including the impact of coronavirus on imports from Asia, said BC Maritime Employers Association CEO Mike Leonard.
The port of Savannah has suffered a 20 per cent decline in container business in March. It's expecting a surge of full containers to sit in storage for at least a short period, as the current lockdown at many US retailers and factories reduces demand, said Georgia Ports Authority executive director Griff Lynch.
"We are looking at a very sharp, unprecedented decline in trade, especially because of the speed at which it is happening," former White House economist Phil Levy said by phone.
"If we are already starting to match Great Recession statistics, that means we are on pace for the modern record," said Mr Levy, now the chief economist at freight logistics company Flexport Inc.
The world's top container shipping line Maersk has reiterated that the virus hasn't had a major impact on its ability to operate, saying "goods continue to flow through our warehouses, terminals and network" as 85 per cent of its global office-based staff works from home.
But disruptions continue to crop up. India's government has now created uncertainty about how goods will flow in and out of the world's seventh-largest economy when it told its major ports that the pandemic provides reasonable grounds for invoking force majeure - a contractual escape clause in the event of natural disasters.
The Manila International Port temporarily closed after one of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus, and the port of Houston temporarily closed two of its public container terminals after an employee contracted the disease.
Few economies have been spared the virus' wrath - especially those in Europe, which is currently the epicentre of the global pandemic.
Europe's largest seaport, in Rotterdam, observed a "significant" drop in throughput volumes for all cargo flows over the past three months, said spokesman Leon Willems.
Not even World War II delivered the kind of sudden economic knockout that is paralysing global supply chains as businesses close and consumers obey orders to stay at home around the globe.
"This could be seen as a war-like scenario without the physical asset destruction," World Trade Organization chief economist Robert Koopman told Bloomberg in a telephone interview.
US exports have been hit particularly hard, and the world's leading port of Shanghai saw a 20 per cent year-over-year drop in container throughput in February, according to the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau. Last month, cargo volume at the port of Long Beach decreased by 9.8 per cent from a year earlier and the total container throughput at Hong Kong's port was down 11 per cent on a cumulative basis.
Ports in British Columbia, in Canada, have seen a "material slowdown" in cargo volumes due to a number of events, including the impact of coronavirus on imports from Asia, said BC Maritime Employers Association CEO Mike Leonard.
The port of Savannah has suffered a 20 per cent decline in container business in March. It's expecting a surge of full containers to sit in storage for at least a short period, as the current lockdown at many US retailers and factories reduces demand, said Georgia Ports Authority executive director Griff Lynch.
"We are looking at a very sharp, unprecedented decline in trade, especially because of the speed at which it is happening," former White House economist Phil Levy said by phone.
"If we are already starting to match Great Recession statistics, that means we are on pace for the modern record," said Mr Levy, now the chief economist at freight logistics company Flexport Inc.
The world's top container shipping line Maersk has reiterated that the virus hasn't had a major impact on its ability to operate, saying "goods continue to flow through our warehouses, terminals and network" as 85 per cent of its global office-based staff works from home.
But disruptions continue to crop up. India's government has now created uncertainty about how goods will flow in and out of the world's seventh-largest economy when it told its major ports that the pandemic provides reasonable grounds for invoking force majeure - a contractual escape clause in the event of natural disasters.
The Manila International Port temporarily closed after one of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus, and the port of Houston temporarily closed two of its public container terminals after an employee contracted the disease.
Few economies have been spared the virus' wrath - especially those in Europe, which is currently the epicentre of the global pandemic.
Europe's largest seaport, in Rotterdam, observed a "significant" drop in throughput volumes for all cargo flows over the past three months, said spokesman Leon Willems.