It happened fast…very fast. In late May through July 15th the Port of Yantian, located northeast of Hong Kong on Mirs Bay, had an unexpected COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in the suspension and a severe slow down at the port. At that moment, it looked like there would be a supply chain disruption greater than the stranding of the containership Ever Given across the breadth of the Suez Canal.
But it wasn’t. It didn’t happen because the Port of Nansha, located northwest of Hong Kong on the western bank of the Pearl River, was able to mobilize at moment’s notice to handle the influx of diverted containers, trucks, barges and ships to keep the supply chain open. The Port of Nansha answered the call.
And open it was – open 24/7, 365 – round the clock operations to handle the crisis.
For many shippers around the world the Port of Nansha’s resilience in the face of extraordinary difficulties saved the day. Having the alternative gateway always open – open 24/7, 365 – was indispensable during the crisis and proved to many shippers, 3PLs, NVOs, truckers and ocean carriers, the value of the Port of Nansha to the global supply chain and reinforced the need for “Port Diversification” not just at the destination but at the Origin too!
For the Port of Nansha it meant immediately marshalling every resource available to handle the flash flood of container volumes. Nansha, which already handles over 17.17 million TEUs annually – or over 47,000 TEUs per day – would now have to absorb the total at its three main terminals equipped with 67 gantry cranes: Terminals 2, and 3, deepwater facilities designed to handle the world’s largest linehaul containerships and Terminal 1, a facility to meet domestic container demands but also available for international business. By combining the handling of all three terminals, Nansha was able to create the capacity to handle the ad hoc influx of containerships diverted to the Port.
But it wasn’t easy. Nansha had to re-engineer and improve “Nansha Terminal Operation Procedure” to adapt to this situation. Some of the procedures involved COVID-19 related practices like testing temperature checks and educating “new” truckers to the basic terminal operations.
The cooperation and effort by all parties enabled the Port of Nansha to handle voyages with a remarkable 220,000 TEUs over the normal container flow-through at the three terminals.
Port of Nansha of the Guangzhou Port Group is located on Longxxue Island in South Guangzhou City. Port of Nansha represents approximately 75% of the 23.51 million TEUs the Guangzhou Port Group handled in 2021. The Port of Nansha is a fast growing port in South China and the only deep-water port on the Western Pearl River Delta.
Each week Nansha has five sailings to Europe and 7 to North America and 89 worldwide. This year the Port added a new terminal with on dock rail, cold storage, and warehousing facilities.
“Current capacity at Terminals 1,2,3 is approximately 20 million TEU. With the opening of new Phase 4 Automated terminal later this year Nansha will increase throughput capacity to over 25 million TEU to support future growth in the S PRC region.” Port of Nansha is well positioned to answer the call today, and especially in the future as it ramps up to keep up with demand.
The marketplace expects Nansha, with more and more vendors migrating West to be a key Origin Gateway helping to relieve the chokepoint at other South China ports moving forward.
