Piled-up containers, quarantined truckers: Shanghai lockdown leads to logistics disarray

Daily truck volumes moving through Shanghai were down 70% early this week compared with the end of March, prior to the lockdown, according to an index published by data provider Wind Information. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China estimates the availability of trucks in Shanghai has fallen by 40% since the lockdown, though the number has been rising in recent days, it added.

Trucking costs have risen significantly as requirements for a negative Covid test result within 48 hours of travel, inconsistent introduction of local Covid prevention policies and a host of bureaucratic approvals have discouraged truckers from taking loads to Shanghai, logistics companies say.

Truck drivers interviewed by The Wall Street Journal say few want to drive to Shanghai even as payments for such trips have more than doubled. They said portable gas stoves and instant noodles are now must-haves on their road trips as service stations are shut and drivers often aren’t allowed to leave their vehicle. Videos posted on social media show truckers living in their vehicles for days, or cooking meals over mud stoves temporarily set up by the road.