Beilun port to see ‘limited impact’ of new outbreaks

Beilun, core of Ningbo Zhoushan Port in East China’s Zhejiang Province, has tightened epidemic control measures after new COVID-19 cases were reported, which posed new challenges to a part of China that plays an important role in foreign trade.

Several local traders that the Global Times reached on Friday said that their businesses have seen a certain but limited effect from the sudden epidemic, including some cargo trucks not being able to deliver goods from local factories to the port yard because of road closures and operations being suspended in some parts of the port.

An employee with Ningbo Tongzhou Logistics said that the control measures are now in place at some port yards in Beilun, and some trucks of the company are staying in areas where static management has been put in place.

To reduce personnel flows and completely cut off the chain of the epidemic spread, the local government announced the three-day temporary district-wide static management starting from Friday.

Despite the outbreak, industry insiders have taken an active approach in dealing with the situation under the government’s support measures, and remain confident that the epidemic situation will be temporary.

“There have been times when the region has suffered from sporadic outbreaks, but the local government has been able to deal with it all while minimizing the impact on local companies,” a local trader surnamed Pan said.

The Beilun district government has also launched measures including a whitelist for some major companies in the region to continue their business operations under the closed-loop management, according to media reports.

Pan said that while there has been some impact, it will be limited and they have rescheduled some businesses to deal with the changing situation.

“We have seen this several times before and managed to get through it. The situation is temporary and we have full confidence in the government’s capability of reining in the epidemic,” she said.