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PT_BR 
The Covid-19 pandemic could delay shipments from one of the world's busiest ports, Yantian Port, located in the industrial and export hub of Shenzhen in southern China.
As reported by Solar Channel last week, with information from Port Trade, and according to an announcement published last Friday (28) on WeChat, one of the most popular instant messaging applications in the Asian country, the port partially stopped accepting containers for export until Sunday (30).
According to state media, this occurred after a coronavirus outbreak hit the team working at the site and the community in the region. In fact, an employee, who did not want to be identified, told the press that all cargo will need to be reserved.
To give you an idea, shares of Shenzhen Yan Tian Port Holding, operator of the port, fell 1.8% this Monday (31). Yantian, for example, serves around one hundred ships per week.
In a statement released on Friday, the government said it will conduct mass testing of the entire population of Yantian district.
International shipping
The price of sea freight, which has already risen by more than 30% (from 6 thousand to 9 thousand dollars), is expected to rise again by the end of June. According to Port Trade, a company specializing in international freight, the Covid-19 outbreak among employees at the Port of Shenzhen, in China, is one of the factors that will contribute to this increase.
“All of this is happening because of the lack of space on ships and, consequently, of transported equipment. The shipments that are taking place from China to Europe and the United States are taking a long time to get the equipment back, which is causing them to need to relocate the products to other regions to make up for this shortage”, said Cleber Baldotto, operational manager at Port Trade.
Chinese banks call for gradual withdrawal of coal financing
Becoming carbon neutral by 2060. This is China's objective, which is looking for alternatives to migrate from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
During the International Financial Forum in Beijing, held last Saturday (29), heads of state banks said that the Asian country should adopt a gradual approach, withdrawing financing for high-emission industries to avoid credit risks.
“Financial institutions need to support coal and steel companies to upgrade their technology to reduce emissions, even if they stop financing any further capacity expansion,” said Zhou Xuedong, executive vice president from the China Development Bank.
“These [high-issuing] industries have significant outstanding credit and too rapid an outflow of financing could lead to deterioration of bank assets. This is a gradual process”, he highlighted.
According to the executive, a hasty withdrawal of contributions to coal companies would result in losses for both the companies and the banks that lent them. “Banks must provide financing for green transformation as they withdraw credit support,” he concluded.
