Japan's Ocean Network Express (ONE) is adding $1,000 to the cost of shipping boxes into China due to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.
It said that, "due to the slow inbound container pick-up activity" caused by the outbreak and the extension of the Lunar New Year holidays, some Chinese terminals, especially Xingang and Shanghai, are facing a serious shortage of available reefer plugs.
"In consideration of this situation, ONE may need to adjust the original transportation plan for reefer shipments to the Chinese terminals mentioned above," it added.
"In such cases, this may result in the discharge of reefer containers at an alternative port without prior notice."
The congestion surcharge of $1,000 per container covers additional costs related to the unexpected but necessary arrangement of shipments and associated plug-in charges and monitoring fees, the company said.
Alternative ports should be considered
The measure is effective immediately for all reefer cargo arriving into Shanghai and Xingang.
For regulated trades the effective date will be 14 March 2020 until further notice.
ONE is encouraging customers to consider a change of destination to other alternative ports, especially for time-sensitive cargoes such as fresh, chilled commodities.
Last week, TradeWinds reported that a huge boxship had left China nearly empty due to the impact of Covid-19.
The unnamed 23,000-teu vessel departed Shanghai carrying only 2,000 boxes, according to one shipping source.
Danish analyst Sea-Intelligence has claimed that the coronavirus outbreak is costing container lines $350m per week due to lost volumes.
It said 350,000 teu has been cut from the export and import market every seven days since the disease broke out.
