Yantian, one of the world's busiest ports, has shut down temporarily as a tropical cyclone barrelled down on China's southern coastline on Tuesday.
The port near Shenzhen stopped container imports and exports as a precaution against Kompasu, the second cyclone to hit the region in the past few days, Bloomberg reported.
The suspension has caused the number of ships at anchorage outside the port, which handled 13.3m teu of boxed goods in 2020, to rise to 67, according to Bloomberg data.
Yantian is one of many ports across the world dealing with unprecedented vessel congestion as a result of Covid-19 delays, pilot shortages and other factors amid low supply and tight demand.
Sixty boxships were at anchorage in California's San Pedro Bay as of Friday, waiting to berth at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Port of Los Angeles data.
The 26 vessels outside Los Angeles and 34 outside Long Beach have been waiting an average of nine days.
The congestion and supply-chain disruption have caused such a shortage of boxships that Genco Shipping & Trading and other bulker owners are seeking ways to use their vessels to carry containers.
Dry bulk shipping is also experiencing worldwide port congestion for similar reasons.
More than 2,400 bulkers are at anchorage across the globe as of Thursday, including 676 awaiting berths in the East China Sea, according to VesselsValue.
