Although it has not been covering the total demand, the flow in the maritime trade has experienced an improvement this year and the freight they have dropped in price. But the new lockdown imposed on a Chinese city with one of the world’s biggest ports could set it back.
Teddy Heinsen, president of the Shipowners Association of the Dominican Republic (ANRD), reported yesterday that, although there are still delays, freight They have improved somewhat. He reported that a container from the main ports of China to the Dominican Republic cost about 17,000 dollars last year and yesterday it was around 11,000 dollars.
Due to a new outbreak of COVID-19, China decreed confinement in at least 17 cities, including Shenzhen, where 17.5 million people live. This demarcation has one of the largest ports in the world, through which 10.5% of the containers used by Chinese foreign trade pass, according to economists consulted by the AFP agency.
Due to previous outbreaks of COVID-19, the port of that city suspended the loading and unloading of containers, causing delays. Now, international media report an increase in the queue of ships that were waiting to dock last Wednesday.
“At the moment everything is flowing according to the times and it is too early to know if there is a repercussion that affects us in the maritime field,” Heinsein told Free Journal referring to a Dominican context. “We still do not suffer from major alterations in the system or traffic.”
Maritime transport has been recovering from a crisis caused in the first two years of the pandemic, which caused queues at ports, delays in shipments and an exponential increase in the price of goods. freight. Industry estimates extend its effects until early 2023.
