There has been much talk lately about how the Shanghai Expo will impact on the shipment of fireworks. It is still early, and so far this is what we know. Shanghai has two ports: Yangshan and Waigaoqiao. Yangshan is far away from the city center and the Expo venue. Waigaoqiao is near the Expo venue. Most of the mother vessels for US shipments call Waigaoqiao and most of the shipments to Europe call Yangshan port. Right now, it is believed that shipments to the US starting early to mid April 2010 will be most affected by the Shanghai Expo, if Yangshan port will be closed for fireworks.
At present, the port of Zhaoqing is still being worked on. We have heard a handful of containers of fireworks have been successfully transshipped from Zhaoqing to Hong Kong, but up to this time has not been a smooth process.
There is also talk of Maersk working to open services from Wuzhou port in Guangxi for transshipment in Hong Kong.
Many ocean carriers are now having difficulties fillings up spaces on their vessel due to the economic downturn and are frequently changing their schedules and routing to avoid losses on each route. Maersk just announced as of mid May, they will cease services from Hong Kong to Tacoma and Seattle, and instead can only offer services from Shanghai to Tacoma and Seattle.
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