Thousands of Frozen Meat Containers Pile Up at Chinese Ports
February 18th, 2020Via: Bloomberg:
Thousands of containers of frozen pork, chicken and beef are piling up at some major Chinese ports as transport disruptions and labor shortages slow operations, people familiar with the matter said.
Deliveries are mounting at ports including Tianjin, Shanghai and Ningbo because there aren’t enough truck drivers to collect containers due to travel curbs imposed in the country to control the coronavirus, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
Ports are also starting to run out of electricity points to freeze the containers and some ships have been told to reroute to other destinations in mainland China and Hong Kong, the people said.
China is a massive importer of meat from South America, Europe and also the U.S., and has been boosting purchases to help ease shortages caused by African swine fever. The country increased imports of meat and offal by almost 50% in 2019 to a record of about 6.2 million tons, customs data show.
These are deliveries coming into China, imported food, not leaving the dock to be distributed inland. Christ, I was focused on exports.
When a bomb explodes, when a city blows up, the incalculable pain, loss, and suffering slips into the past with each passing moment. This is the opposite.
It’s extremely hard to know what to make of the overall situation.
One thing I’m watching is vloggers walking around outside in Chinese cities. I especially appreciate when they walk through supermarkets. There appears to be plenty of food in tier 1 cities so far.
In the last couple of days, the totally dead street scenes are changing. A few more people are wandering around. There are more cars on the roads. So, more activity in places like Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. Might they be 80% shutdown now instead of 90-95% shut down a week ago?
The CCP appears to be letting scenes from the tier 1 cities slip through the VPNs.
The Russians got some video out of Wuhan. Still very locked down there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPInVxt_VsQ