UPDATE: July 23, 2020: The China Meteorological Administration said multiple regions — from Sichuan in the southwest and Gansu in the northwest — face an increased risk from natural disasters in the coming days as record-breaking rainfall hits the country, according to Reuters.

"The current flood control situation remains severe and cannot be relaxed in any way," The Ministry of Water Resources said, Reuters reported Thursday.

"The areas impacted by the flood are mainly rural areas; so no major manufactory bases were affected and impacts to shippers are minor," according to a statement from Siewloong Wong, Kuehne+Nagel's regional manager for Asia Pacific.

Dive Brief:

• Close to 30 of the more than 1,800 supplier sites monitored by Resilinc in the Chinese regions of Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang have been impacted by flooding that hit the country last week and early this week, according to a statement provided by Resilinc. China's rainy season started June 1.
• "Business activities and infrastructure in Xiantao and Wuhan in the Hubei province are experiencing severe disruptions to global supply chains for medical components, protective equipment, and non-woven fabric products, among others," a spokesperson for Resilinc told Supply Chain Dive in an email.
• Dealmed, a U.S. medical supplier, told Reuters the flooding was "creating another major roadblock here in terms of PPE getting into the United States."

Dive Insight:

After days of rain, meteorologists expect the cascade to continue throughout the week. China's National Meteorological Center anticipates between 4 and 6 inches of rain from Tuesday to Thursday in Sichuan, Anhui, Hubei and Henan provinces, according to the Nikkei Asain Review. The country's flood warning system is currently set to red, its highest level, the report said.

The rain has had an impact on carrier operations as well, but the situation is reportedly improving. Reefer plugs were hard to come by, impacting the flow of refrigerated goods.

"Import container pick-up activities have been severely impacted and as a result reefer plugs are highly utilized especially at the port of Yantian and Ningbo," Hapag-Lloyd said in a note to customers. "We seek your assistance to pick-up your container as soon as released by customs."

Maersk said it had several inland terminals suspend operations as a result of the flooding in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces.

"The situation is improving, as the water recedes," a spokesperson for Maersk told Supply Chain Dive in an email. "Right now, only one terminal, a common user facility in Anqing in the Anhui province on the Yangtze River, is operationally suspended. The other affected inland terminals are operating with slightly lower productivities."

Shippers should expect some delays in the impacted region, C.H. Robinson told Supply Chain Dive.

"C.H. Robinson is noticing port closures and disruptions in some ports along the Yangtze river due to recent severe flooding," John Chen, the vice president of Global Forwarding Asia at C.H. Robinson, told Supply Chain Dive in an email. "Ports in Anhui and Hubei provinces are impacted with equipment issues as well as feeder and haulage delays while ports in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are functioning normally."

A spokesperson for DSV said the floods "haven’t caused any major disruptions" to the company's supply chain.

The economic impact of the flooding could reach $12 billion, according to an estimate cited by Nikkei.