SIMIC

Those diversions are adding to the new wave of congestion facing China's ports as an increasing number of cities deal with the Covid scare.

Strict testing of dockers and truckers ahead of Chinese New Year at the end of this month is further stressing already strained supply chains as the Covid scare heads into its third year.

In the country's technology hub of Shenzhen in the south, testing of residents and truckers to contain an outbreak means a queue of ships has formed at the port.

That's caused the Shekou terminal to start restricting the acceptance of goods, meaning that full containers can only be trucked in three days before vessels are due to arrive, the terminal operator said.

Meanwhile, the northern Chinese city of Tianjin ordered workers to take a half-day break for Covid testing as officials try to contain the spread of the omicron variant. Trucking capacity is estimated to be half normal levels, and drivers are required to be tested daily before entering the port, said Alex Hersham, CEO of digital freight-forwarder Zencargo.