Shippers lost nearly 500,000 TEUs of capacity at three of China’s top ports after Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd skipped recent calls due to congestion and related issues caused by Typhoon Dolphin, which hit eastern China nearly two weeks ago, vessel schedules show.

Shippers also face knock-on disruption after cargo bound for the ports, including Shanghai and Ningbo, was transshipped at other hubs such as Busan and Hong Kong and which now needs to be shuttled back to the original discharge port. The loss of capacity will also put upward pressure on soaring rates in lanes between North Asia and the Americas.

The worst post-storm affected trades are Asia-Latin America, where 157,000 TEUs of capacity was lost on Hapag-Lloyd services after the carrier omitted calls at Shanghai over the past two weeks; and Gemini Cooperation Asia-Europe services, where ships totaling 95,000 TEUs skipped Shanghai.

Fresh data shows the lengthening vessel queues in Shanghai and Ningbo. The number of vessels at Shanghai jumped to a nearly two-year high of 139 as of Aug. 17, up from 24 two weeks earlier, according to Portcast data carried on the Journal of Commerce’s Gateway platform. Ningbo’s queue rose to 77 vessels from 11 on Aug. 3.

Highlighting the impact on Asia-Europe services, Hapag-Lloyd said the 13,900-TEU Unayzah Express operating on Gemini’s Asia North Europe 3 service has omitted this week’s Yantian call to enable two weeks’ worth of Shanghai cargoes to be loaded.

Similarly, the 13,000-TEU Paris Express will omit Shanghai so it can load two weeks’ worth of cargo at Yantian at the end of next week, according to Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk schedules.

Overall, at least 320,000 TEUs of Gemini and Hapag-Lloyd capacity has avoided Shanghai over the last two weeks based on Hapag-Lloyd data.

A further 70,000 TEUs was lost at Ningbo after ships, mainly operating on Hapag-Lloyd’s Latin American services, skipped the port. Another approximately 75,000 TEUs of capacity was lost at Yantian after the Shenzhen port was omitted, mainly on Gemini services.

“Post-typhoon recovery efforts remain underway in Shanghai, where significant vessel delays and schedule disruptions have affected port operations,” Kuehne + Nagel said in an update this week.

“To alleviate congestion and stabilize service networks, carriers are omitting selected Shanghai calls, resulting in cargo rollovers to subsequent sailings,” the forwarder added.

K+N said that terminal gate-in and gate-out functions have resumed at Shanghai, although additional processing times and “volatile vessel schedules continue to impact cargo planning and container availability.”

Ningbo, meanwhile, “continues to experience schedule recovery challenges” following the most recent typhoon, the forwarder said.

“Numerous vessels were delayed after seeking shelter, contributing to congestion and vessel omissions as carriers work to restore schedule reliability,” it said. “Ports and terminals are processing accumulated vessel, container and truck volumes, while empty container pick-up and laden delivery activities continue to experience additional processing times.”

Hapag-Lloyd said the average waiting time for Gemini services calling at Shanghai’s Yangshan deepwater port is approximately five to six days, and seven to eight days for non-Gemini services.

The average waiting time at Ningbo is about three to four days for both Gemini and non-alliance services.

Delays for ONE, HMM, Evergreen

Cargo owners are also experiencing extensive delays as vessels operated by other carriers including HMM, Evergreen and Ocean Network Express are caught up in storm-related berthing holdups.

Updated schedules from Evergreen Line show approximately 50 ships experienced berthing delays of up to nine days after arriving in Shanghai shortly before and after the typhoon hit. The delays are continuing into next week for some ships.

HMM’s schedules show berthing delays have affected 25 vessels at Shanghai, with ships operating US West and East coast services held at anchor for nearly two weeks before berthing. These include the 8,630-TEU YM Uniformity operating the Premier Alliance Pacific South 4 service, which arrived in Shanghai on Aug. 13 but is not expected to berth until Aug. 24, according to HMM schedules seen Friday.

ONE said ships are being delayed in Xiamen and Hong Kong due to typhoon-related vessel bunching and congestion.