Peak season could be overshadowed by rush of 260,000 containers from Shanghai

Shanghai authorities on Tuesday began dismantling fences around housing compounds and ripping police tape off public squares and buildings before the lifting of a two-month lockdown in China's largest city at midnight.

The prolonged isolation has fuelled public anger and rare protests inside the city of 25 million people and battered its manufacturing and export-heavy economy, disrupted supply chains in China and around the world and slowed international trade.

An estimated 260,000 TEU (twenty foot equivalent units) of Shanghai’s unshipped container cargo is set to swamp the market this summer, making the peak season even more turbulent than last year. Backlogs will be arriving at the same time as peak season orders, which could cause a lot of supply chain blockages at ports in Europe and the US, where congestion is already widespread.