The Shanghai port is maintaining smooth and stable operation with tightened pandemic control measures amid the recent COVID-19 surge, port engineers said this week.

The operator of the Port of Shanghai, Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), said loading and unloading at the port is being carried out rather smoothly.

The "closed-loop management" inside the Shanghai port area can ensure 24-hour uninterrupted operation that is unaffected by the epidemic, said Huang Hua, chief remote operator of the Yangshan Phase 5 Automation Terminal at the Shanghai port.

The management system requires employees to stay in specific areas to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

However, due to the lockdown in Shanghai and the tightened epidemic control measures in the Yangtze River Delta, transportation of containers out of the terminal is restricted, Huang said.

If the containers cannot arrive and leave the port on time, they will pile up and disrupt normal operations at the port, he added.

In order to allow truck drivers to travel smoothly in the Yangtze River Delta region, SIPG has launched a single "pass" for container truck drivers, which has gained mutual recognition in the Yangtze River Delta region. The pass shows the electronic lading bill, driver's Shanghai QR code and negative nucleic acid test result within the past 48 hours.

Outbound container truck transportation capacity has been slashed by 25 to 30 percent compared with the previous two years, said Dai Yue, general manager of the shipping data section at SIPG.

China's Ministry of Transport, together with other government departments, issued new plans to ensure logistics operations, including building a national transport pass system to issue passes that will be acknowledged and available across the country.

The authorities also emphasized that local governments and regulators cannot impose stringent or one-size-fits-all prevention measures.

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