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Typhoon Supply Chain Havoc Eastern China Amazon Sellers

Typhoon Wreaks Supply Chain Havoc On China’s Eastern Coast

China is now battling the devastation of its second drenching as typhoon In-Fa made landfall this past Sunday, lashing major cities along its Eastern seaboard, including Shanghai, Zhoushan, and Ningbo, with torrential rain and gale-force winds.

The news comes only days after reports of record-breaking rainfall in the nearby landlocked province of Henan, which caused destructive flooding in several parts of the region and disrupted logistics operations at a central air cargo hub in Zhengzhou.

The latest effects of the typhoon caused further freight delays to distributors in China, as the downpour forced Shanghai’s two international airports, rail hub, and container port to close over the weekend.

According to the city’s municipal Meteorological Bureau, Shanghai received over four inches of rain from Sunday to Monday, and the wind speed topped 72 mph. Typically, Shanghai gets around 4.7 inches of precipitation for the entire month of July.

The storm prompted the closure of the seaport and airport in Ningbo, which, together with Shanghai, make up some of the largest distribution hubs in the world. With the clean-up well underway along China’s East Coast, most carriers expect normal operations to resume by Wednesday, 28 July.

However, with a backlog of cargo waiting at several ports in the area, vessel berthing delays of four-to-six days are expected at Shanghai and Ningbo seaports, and shipping rates are expected to increase for the next couple of weeks as freight forwarders scurry to find limited outbound availability.

Additionally, supply chains have been disrupted for the region’s many factories, including a complex in Zhengzhou where almost half of Apple’s iPhones sold worldwide are produced; hence its moniker “iPhone City.”

While China has suffered from annual summer flooding and typhoons for millennia, the record rainfall in Henan coupled with the nation’s latest storm surge has provoked questions from meteorological experts about how cities in China could prepare themselves better for freak weather events, which they say are occurring more frequently and with increased intensity due to climate change.

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