China’s Qiongzhou Strait Halts Shipping Services Due To Heavy Fog

On Wednesday, a dense fog prevented vessels from passing via the Qiongzhou Strait off the coast of Guangdong province in China. Over the following days, millions will likely experience travel difficulties due to snow and freezing rain in many regions of the nation.

Poor weather is disrupting the country as millions of Chinese citizens take across the highways, airports, and high-speed trains through the 40-day Lunar New Year’s travel rush that began on January 26 and is one of history’s most significant mass migration movements. Many ports started suspending the flow of shipping traffic late Tuesday owing to heavy fog, CCTV reported.

The port cities of Fangchenggang and Beihai in southwestern Guangxi issued an orange warning, citing dense fog with extremely low visibility in specific areas, per CCTV. China is known to have a three-tier colour-coded warning mechanism for thick fog, where red is the most serious. This is followed by orange and then yellow.

In addition, CCTV stated that haze and snow advisories had been issued for over 100 airports nationwide. As CCTV reported, multiple provinces, including Henan and Hubei, are experiencing a mix of heavy snow and freezing rain, resulting in numerous route closures.

The China Meteorological Administration (abbreviated the CMA) released an extensive map showing the most to least risky affected routes and warned that freezing rain will disrupt enormous parts of the nation’s highways, railways, and flights. From February 1 to February 4, forecasters can expect freezing rain in many parts of Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shandong, Guizhou provinces, and Chongqing.

The wide-ranging rain, cold temperatures, and snow hitting eastern and central China from January 31 to February 5, forecast by the CMA as the strongest since 2009, is reminiscent of the winter storms 2008. Then, blizzards and a cold snap affected significant parts of central and southern China between late January and early February, paralyzing transportation, halting business production, and pressing a pause on business activities.

The Chinese official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, a barometer of business sentiment in the services sector, dropped sharply to 46.9 in Feb 2008 from 57.1 in the previous month, per the data compiled by the Economic Daily website. The 50 mark reportedly separates expansion from contraction. Direct economic losses hit 151.65 billion yuan that winter, the worst in China in half a century.

Reference: Reuters

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