Ships calling at Guangzhou and several other Chinese ports are finding local pilots in short supply and facing additional waits both upon arrival and at departure.
Waits of nearly two weeks for compulsory pilotage have been reported at Guangzhou, where a 21-day cycle of hotel and home confinement is in effect for pilots who board foreign-trading or foreign-crewed vessels.
Some shipowners with vessels calling recently at Guangzhou understand the pilot shortage as a local phenomenon, but portside sources in Shanghai and Zhoushan told TradeWinds that the pilot shortage is...
