Chinese automakers have warned they will have to halt production if the COVID-19 epidemic continues in Shanghai, while a senior Huawei Group official warned of chronic supply chain problems on Friday.
Shanghai’s health restrictions against the spread of the disease have forced the city’s 25 million residents to stay indoors for weeks, forcing manufacturers to shut down operations and making China’s target of 5.5 percent GDP growth seem unattainable.
The shipping companies have also warned that the closure of Shanghai will cause congestion in the world’s most important container port.
The spread of COVID-19 across the country and the slowdown in related economic activity have hit the automotive industry hard, with car sales down 10.5 percent in March.
“If supply chain companies in and around Shanghai could not find a way to get to work and start production faster, all OEMs would have to halt production in May,” Shipping, head of shopping, wrote on social media.
Shipping is considered a Chinese competitor to Tesla, the world’s largest electric car maker, and its chairman said companies hope to get more support from authorities to deal with the measures imposed during the closure.
A senior executive at Chinese technology company Huawei, which has begun working with local carmakers in the smart car industry, echoed similar reports on Friday, warning that time was running out.
Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer and automotive division, said: “If Shanghai is still unable to start work and production from May, all technology and industrial companies that are part of the Shanghai supply chain, especially the Shanghai sector, will be shut down.” WeChat said on the social site. Automotive industry! “.
Also, port closures cause logistics delays.
On Thursday, shipping company Marsk spoke about “congestion at stations” in the port of Shanghai.
(AFP)