China’s biggest cargo airport still suffering delays as jobseekers say coronavirus ‘risk is too high’ for cargo handlers
- One of two terminals at Shanghai Pudong International Airport is still seeing flight cancellations after vaccinated workers tested positive for the coronavirus last month
- Rumours of a labour shortage swirl as traders say cargo space to the terminal remains ‘very tight’, and air freight has not returned to normal
Disruptions at China’s largest cargo airport are still prevalent more than two weeks after coronavirus infections closed one of the airport’s two terminals.
Shanghai airport authorities say the Pudong Air Cargo Terminal (PACTL) is now open, but strict quarantine rules have been imposed on ground staff, and this has delayed custom clearances while forcing airlines to cancel a number of flights.
The other Pudong cargo terminal, Eastern Airlines Logistics Terminal (EAL), was said to be running “normally”.
An Australian seafood trader, who requested anonymity, said cargo space on flights to Pudong’s PACTL was “very tight”. She also expressed concern that her shipment next week might be delayed.
“So far, the local DHL forwarding company said there was reduced capacity, as various airlines have stopped flying to Pudong,” she said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty.”
Another Australia-based exporter was trying to air freight Scotch whisky on a China Southern Airlines flight from Scotland but said she was told the flight was cancelled without reason.
One trader said PACTL has started receiving inbound goods but not outbound ones.
A spokeswoman at the Airport Cargo Office of Cathay Pacific confirmed on Monday that many airlines had cut their cargo-carrying flights, and that air freight had not fully returned to normal.