China’s Port of Dalian Begins Covid-19 Lockdowns and Quarantine

Port City Dalian Hastens Lockdowns Amid COVID Resurgence

A new wave of the Delta variant has hit the port city of Dalian, forcing health authorities to begin lockdown procedures and halting segments of the port’s operations. Locals are only allowed essential travel, while mass testing and sanitation protocols have been reintroduced in the city.

Over 200 cases were reported in Dalian since early November, including 52 local symptomatic cases on 12 November. The first case came from a warehouse worker in the port’s cold chain food operations, with cases rising to 14 after 600,000 employees were tested. Though the outbreak remains limited to several clusters, China’s cautious approach has meant that all cold-chain food operations in the port have been suspended as of 8 November.

The local cold-chain goods market will likely suffer as the Dalian port handles at least 70 percent of the overseas cold-chain products and a third of all the cold-chain products in China.

Meanwhile, to restrict group activities, networks in the city have been suspended, including road entries, airports, railway terminals, parts of the port, schools, universities, and museums.

It is unknown if the latest restrictions will apply to the port’s container terminal operations. With an estimated 10 million TEU passing through the port annually linking 160 countries, the lockdown will certainly have a ripple effect in the recovery of global supply chains.