Shanghai's supply chain returns despite COVID

China Electrical Equipment Group Co Ltd is a beneficiary of the coordination along the supply chain and industrial chain. Despite the impact of the pandemic, the group fully used its strength in supply and industrial chains to speed up its overseas development. As a result, the corporation saw its overseas market portion rise 5 percent in the first five months, in comparison with the same period in 2021.

In April and May, Eastern Air Logistics carried 38.4 metric tons of raw materials urgently needed by a domestic high-tech enterprise, as well as equipment and facilities, helping the company to retain its raw materials and supply chain amid the COVID-19 outbreaks, said Yan Feixiang, vice-general manager of the marketing division with EAL.

Thanks to EAL's capabilities in transportation and high efficiency, they have aided many enterprises' business restoration in this regard.

The cargo carrier has conducted 1,308 flights carrying 44,000 tons of cargo in the first 20 days of June. Cargo flights resumed to 96 percent of the pre-pandemic level, Yan said.

At Shanghai's two airports, EAL handled an aggregate of 93,468 tons of cargo and mail in the same period.

EAL is now fully enhancing its all-cargo aircraft utilization and optimizing flight networks to achieve a win-win situation for all parties along the aviation industrial chain, Yan said.

While striving to contain the spread of the virus, the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection is paying equal efforts to maintain the smooth operation at ports for Customs clearance. As of June 24, more than 16,960 trips were inspected at vessel entry or exit via the general station so far this year, as well as more than 36,640 flights, statistics from the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection showed. Among these, 31,940 were cargo flights, which is 6.79 times that of passenger flights.

The Shanghai Haitong International Automotive Terminal, which is responsible for half of China's ocean freight exports of vehicles, saw more than 78,000 vehicles exported in May, surging more than 31 percent month-on-month, exhibiting a growth of about 6 percent year-on-year.

Maritime transportation accounted for about 90 percent of the global trade volume, or more than 70 percent of the world's trade value. As Shanghai is returning to the norm of being an international shipping center, industry experts showed their confidence in the latter half of the year.

Shipping operators are optimistic about investing more capacity into their businesses, said the latest quarterly report from the Shanghai International Shipping Institute.

Most shipping entrepreneurs have great expectations for the second half of the year as they believe freight will continue to grow in the latter half, with 12.5 percent of them believing that the price rises will be above 50 percent, it added.

Looking ahead, Lin suggested more improvements in laws and regulations for better collaboration between ports and related organizations, and for industrial associations and chambers of commerce so that they can play more proactive roles to ensure smoother operations in the supply chain.