Josh Brazil, May 12, Email interview with USA TODAY Georgios Hatzimanolis, May 12, Email interview with USA TODAY In addition, many of the ships on the map are not engaged in trade, but instead are fishing, passenger or other types of vessels. According to, from which the photo of the map was taken, most of the icons on the map represent ships in motion that are not waiting to dock. Our rating: Falseīased on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a map shows ships waiting to dock because of COVID-19 lockdowns in China. Circular icons represent ships that are anchored or stopped. The map in the posts shows a large number of ships that are in motion, represented with triangular icons, which are less likely to be waiting to unload or receive a container from a port. But the screenshot also shows a number of other categories of ships, including fishing, passenger and unspecified vessels.įact check: Image of live shipping map shows those underway as well as those waiting to dock All cargo and tanker ships in the area, represented in green and red respectively, are there to engage in trade, according to Hatzimanolis. The map is color-coded to distinguish between types of ships. 'We are not witnessing a worsening of the situation at the moment.' 'China is the world's largest exporter and one of the world's largest importers, so traffic in the region is always busy,' he wrote. Hatzimanolis also said the map doesn't show an irregular or extreme traffic buildup. 'Many of them are fishing vessels and other types of vessels that are not waiting to dock.' 'Most of the vessels pictured are not waiting to dock,' he wrote in an email to USA TODAY. Instead of only showing 'ships waiting to dock' because of supply chain delays, the map shows every vessel in the vicinity of Chinese ports, MarineTraffic spokesperson Georgios Hatzimanolis said. USA TODAY reported on a similar misrepresentation of the map in 2021. Shipping delays have increased significantly since lockdowns began in Shanghai and other large Chinese cities in early March, as CNN reports, but the map doesn't tell us much about them.Ī visual comparison shows that the photo in the viral posts is a screenshot taken from, a website that tracks and aggregates data from the Automatic Identification System transponders that large ships are required to have on board. Most ships in photo are not 'waiting to dock' It takes longer to process import cargo with those facilities,' Seroka said.Workers wearing protective gear stack up boxes with food over a cart to deliver in a neighborhood during a COVID-19 coronavirus lockdown in the Jing'an district in Shanghai on May 7, 2022. 'You don't see as much staffing at each shift at our warehouses and distribution centers. Port workers are racing to process incoming containers and the arrival of 18 unscheduled ships in August and September made labor scheduling more complex.ĬOVID-19 safety measures like reduced staffing and physical distancing means it is taking longer to get containers out of the port. The trend is a turnaround from earlier this year, when pandemic related shutdowns - first in China and then in the United States - slowed ocean shipping traffic to a trickle.īut the jump in cargo-some of it unexpected-is beginning to cause backups that could ripple through U.S. retailers launching holiday promotions before Halloween to lock in sales and ease residential delivery crunches as worries mount over fast-rising COVID-19 infections and potential unrest around next month's Presidential election.

'We continue to see the replenishment of warehouse and distribution center inventories along with retailers prepping for year-end holidays,' Seroka said.Ī, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy are among the U.S. That trend has carried into October, said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, where there are now 16 vessels docked and 10 at anchor with cargo waiting to be unloaded. Workers unloaded 471,795 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) of imports in September, 17% more than the year earlier, marking the second month of robust import gains at the No. Incoming cargo to the Port of Los Angeles is surging as businesses restock depleted inventories and retailers prepare for an early holiday season, the executive director for the nation's busiest seaport said on Wednesday.

Ships waiting to port map