Our team of correspondents in the Asian country prepared a comprehensive report on the status of China's main ports during week 50; it highlights the suspension of cargo disinfection, which would further streamline the logistics of customs clearance and fruit transfer.
Shekou: Container sanitization was canceled after Shenzhen Customs informed the authorities.
Yantian: Linda Lin, Senior Commercial Manager of the port, said that as of last Thursday, the Shenzhen Market Supervision Authority canceled disinfection for imported cold chain cargo, while customs measures remained unchanged.
However, Candy Liu from Yantian's trade team reported that the local Customs has lifted the disinfection order on COVID-19-related import refrigerated cargoes with immediate effect, which would greatly improve the efficiency of customs clearance of such cargoes from Yantian Port.
Additionally, he stated that they would continue to do their best to provide safe and efficient services for all fruit shipments from Chile.
Nansha: Jimmy Zhu of Guangzhou Port Group said this week that China announced on Monday that the digital tool for tracking inter-city travel would stop working. The tool, also known as the digital travel code, would end its functions across all channels in accordance with the requirements of Chinese central authorities.
This code was put into use in 2020 as part of the country's COVID-19 prevention and control measures, allowing travel tracking to help local governments take measures to protect against potential contagion risks.
According to Jimmy Zhu, it is possible to confirm that the Chinese government will further facilitate the prevention and control measures for Covid-19.
Shanghai: Kurt Huang, a Shanghai-based fresh fruit customs broker, said there were no official changes at the port of Shanghai yet, but the market was expecting that the disinfections would be cancelled; the mood would be very positive and there would be no major concern about the situation at ports in China.
Our team also spoke with ProChile in Shanghai, who believe that the possibility of a quarantine like the one seen in the first half of the year in this city is very low. In addition, they said that, in 2021, they had a meeting with the municipal government of Shanghai on the cherry trade between China and Chile, which further facilitates the customs clearance of cherries at the port.
Finally, they noted that they saw the news about the arrival of the first ship of Chilean cherries to Shanghai, that customs clearance was more efficient this year, and that the ship arrived at the port at 2 pm and in the early morning of the next day the fruit had already arrived at the Shanghai wholesale market. This news can be reviewed at the following link: https://www.douyin.com/video/7177293854113123616
Hong Kong: An attempt was made to gather information on the situation at the port of Hong Kong by consulting with operators there, but no response was obtained. However, everything seems to indicate that operations have not had any problems so far.
Hong Kong this week ended international travel restrictions, removing the need for quarantines and only maintaining a vaccine requirement for travelers. Incoming travelers are no longer given a yellow code that, until now, limited their entry to public places.
In addition, the use of PCR tests is being reduced and will now be required only in hospitals and nursing homes. Rapid tests are being promoted for the rest of the population. PCR tests are also no longer required for travellers entering Macau and mainland China.
