August 13th, 2026 – Ocean carriers and shippers are facing another round of delays after the ports of Shanghai and Ningbo temporarily closed over the weekend as Typhoon Dolphin struck China’s East Coast.
The storm, the strongest cyclone to hit China so far this year, disrupted both coastal and inland supply chains. Torrential rainfall triggered widespread flooding across a large portion of the country, with impacts extending north toward Beijing and west to Wuhan in Hubei province.
Shipping data shows that more than 2.4 million TEUs of container ship capacity were stranded in the aftermath of the storm. Shanghai and Ningbo were among the ports most heavily affected, and the resulting congestion has also spread to ports in southern China. With such a significant amount of vessel capacity disrupted, clearing the backlog could take several weeks.
Operations at Ningbo resumed Monday afternoon while Shanghai resumed operations early Tuesday. However, the reopening of the ports does not mean schedules will immediately return to normal. Vessel queues, berth availability and ships arriving outside their planned windows are expected to keep pressure on schedules as terminals work through the accumulated backlog.
Shanghai and Ningbo Face Renewed Congestion
Typhoon Dolphin arrived just as carriers and shippers were recovering from earlier weather-related disruptions. Typhoon Bavi forced closures at Shanghai, Ningbo and Qingdao nearly a month earlier, while Typhoon Noul closed ports in Hong Kong and Shenzhen on July 25th.
Prior to Dolphin’s arrival, conditions had shown signs of improvement. As of August 3rd, container ship queues at Shanghai and Ningbo had fallen to their lowest levels in more than two years following the delays caused by Typhoon Bavi. Portcast data carried on the Journal of Commerce Gateway platform showed 15 vessels waiting at Shanghai and six at Ningbo before the latest storm arrived.
That progress is now being tested by another wave of disruption.
Evergreen’s sailing schedules published Tuesday showed a dozen vessels facing estimated delays of up to five days between arrival in Shanghai and berthing at the Waigaoqiao and Yangshan terminals. In Ningbo, six Evergreen vessels were facing waits of approximately two to five days before berthing.
Reports also show Tuesday’s average vessel waiting times had climbed to nearly five days in Shanghai and almost three days in Ningbo.
Carriers Adjust Networks to Improve Reliability
The latest disruption highlights the broader challenge carriers face in maintaining schedule reliability across major Asian gateways during periods of severe weather.
Just days before Typhoon Dolphin affected Shanghai and Ningbo, Maersk announced plans to remove Shanghai from its Dragon Asia-Oceania service later this month. The change follows the launch of the Qilin express service connecting Shanghai with Sydney and Melbourne.
As part of the Dragon service adjustments, Maersk is also modifying calls at Ningbo, Hong Kong and Yantian. The changes are intended to improve consistency and reduce the effect that weather events and terminal disruptions can have on overall service performance.
For shippers, the immediate concern extends beyond the temporary port closures themselves. Even after terminals reopen, vessel bunching, berth congestion and schedule changes can continue to affect container availability, connections and transit times throughout the network.
With congestion now affecting multiple Chinese ports and millions of TEUs of vessel capacity caught in the disruption, importers and exporters should anticipate continued schedule volatility as carriers and terminals work through the backlog created by Typhoon Dolphin.
