From "Baiwei" to "Baihaiyun" and then to "Shadell", these past few months have seen the two major ports of Shanghai and Ningbo repeatedly subjected to the tests of multiple typhoons. As a result, the port and shipping market has become a complete mess!
Today, through the shipping trajectory of an 8,000-container vessel, we can gain an insight into the extreme congestion at the two major ports of Shanghai and Ningbo!
According to the latest information from ONE Shipping: A large container ship named MSC BEIJING VIII (IMO 9289099), with a capacity of 8,089 TEU, belonging to Mediterranean Shipping Company, has been continuously "floating" in the waters east of Shanghai - Ningbo for nearly a month. Its speed has remained between 0 and 5 knots, and the destination is unknown. This has drawn the attention of the industry.
The shipping schedule indicates that the MSC BEIJING VIII vessel, after leaving Zhoushan Jinhai Heavy Industry on August 6th, was reportedly affected by a typhoon and remained stranded in the sea off Zhejiang for a long time. It finally docked at Ningbo Port on August 18th. After that, it encountered another typhoon on August 19th. This morning at 2 o'clock (August 31st), it arrived at Shanghai Port and is expected to leave Shanghai Port at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning and head for the next port, Busan Port in South Korea.
The vessel tracking data shows that due to the port shutdown and subsequent severe congestion, the MSC BEIJING VIII vessel was forced to remain stationary (Stop Moving) for a long time in the sea off Shanghai, Zhejiang Province, throughout August. The vessel was in an unusual state of avoiding typhoons and waiting for berths.
From the AIS data, the "drifting" characteristic of this ship is extremely typical: the speed remained mostly between 0 and 3 knots, with occasional short-distance movements of around 5 knots. This was far below the normal operating speed of 18 to 25 knots for container ships. The event log indicates that "stop moving" and "start moving" alternated every few hours to several hours, with no stable course or destination port. The trajectory map was filled with repeatedly looping lines off the sea area between Shanghai and Ningbo. —— A vessel of 8,000 TEU capacity, neither loading nor docking at a port, nor sailing on any clear route, just drifting back and forth in this sea area, with the destination field showing abnormal codes. All these signs point to a state: it is neither in normal operation nor has it been redeployed, just idling in the same place.
As of now, the MSC official has not made a public statement on the long-term drifting of this vessel. However, the typhoon impact after repair and the congestion at the port are expected to be the main reasons for this vessel's long-term drifting.
Herberthorpe: The ship was stuck in the Shanghai port for 11 days!
According to the latest information from One Shipping: Due to multiple factors such as consecutive typhoons, temporary port closures, increased cargo volume during the peak season, and continuous disruptions to the global shipping network, the congestion situation at the world's largest container port, Shanghai Port, has further deteriorated recently. A large number of container ships are waiting for berths outside the port. Hapag-Lloyd stated that the waiting time for its vessels at the Shanghai Port has reached up to 11 days at its longest point currently. Korea Hansung Shipping (HMM) said that due to the intense market fluctuations, it is currently unable to accurately predict when congestion in Shanghai and Ningbo regions will be completely relieved.
Hapag-Lloyd disclosed to European shipping media that the company is currently experiencing severe congestion caused by a series of typhoons and the resulting temporary port closures. "The waiting time at the Shanghai Port is currently about 6 to 11 days, depending on the vessel, route services, and the involved terminals. Shanghai is a key port in our global network, and maintaining the berthing at Shanghai is very important for customers. Currently, all route services are affected to varying degrees."
The worsening congestion situation at the Shanghai Port has also begun to be reflected in key operational indicators of global container liner shipping. Sea-Intelligence data shows that the reliability rate of global liner shipping schedules dropped by 6.1 percentage points in July compared to June, reaching 56.4%, the lowest level since February 2025. Based on actual delay time, the average arrival time of container ships is currently about 6 days later than the time agreed with customers.
More than 1.5 million TEUs are waiting at the ports of Shanghai and Ningbo.
According to the data from Linerlytica as of August 23rd, the number of containers currently waiting at the offshore berths of Shanghai/Ningbo ports has reached approximately 1.5 million TEUs. Due to the inability of a large number of ships to berth as planned, congestion at the ports is further spreading to the global liner network.
Meanwhile, the threat of a new typhoon has added to the uncertainty in the market. Another typhoon, "Saudel", is expected to make landfall over the weekend, which means the congestion situation at Shanghai and Ningbo ports may further worsen. The previous backlog of ships and cargo caused by the typhoon has not yet been fully resolved.
Lars Jensen, the CEO of Vespucchi Maritime, pointed out that the data from Linerlytica indicates that approximately 12.6% of the global container capacity is currently "locked" in Asia due to port congestion caused by the typhoons. He also stated that based on the latest data from Sea-Intelligence, the proportion of capacity affected by port congestion in July was approximately 6.6%, but the impact of typhoon "Dolphin" will be further reflected in the data for August, and now the market is facing the potential impact of typhoon "Saudel".
For shipping companies, this means that even if some ports gradually resume normal operations, the large amount of ship backlog formed in the early stage still needs time to be digested. If subsequent operations continue to be affected by adverse weather, the waiting time for ships and route delays may further expand.
Author's note: The materials are sourced from Yixiang Shipping. The events described in the text occurred on August 31, 2026 in Guangdong.
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